It's true that greatness is rare, but I think that's partially a combination of rarity of skill and the fact that there are few people willing to put in the num

It's true that greatness is rare, but I think that's partially a combination of rarity of skill and the fact that there are few people willing to put in the number of hours required to achieve greatness. (Yes, I definitely believe in the 10K hours theory). Take John Coltrane as an example. I think it's fair to say that most people consider him a genius and an extremely talented saxophone player. But he was definitely NOT one of these child prodigies like Mozart. He worked hard and put in many many hours of training. So many, in fact, that some other musicians (notably Miles Davis) saw him as a bit boring since "all he ever wanted to do was practice". That could also be attributed to the fact that he kicked a bad heroin addiction and so didn't see much point in doing anything other than what he loved, playing music. So, yes, you do need high ability to achieve greatness, but high ability/skill is something that can be acquired and is not necessarily inborn.