There are a number of people who are CEO of this-or-that because they are smart, skilled CEOs with the proper credentials. And there are some that lack credenti

There are a number of people who are CEO of this-or-that because they are smart, skilled CEOs with the proper credentials. And there are some that lack credentials and make this up by being smarter or better. And some who are pretty dumb and inept but make up for it by having really great credentials. You're comment asks why people believe it's "100% up to 'luck'" and I'd argue that there are few people making that argument. Rather, the argument goes, luck is a component of getting a high-paying CEO salary. I don't think this is in any way arguable. The argument that there's no luck and it's 100% skill on the part of the CEO is equally silly. Even if skill was the largest success predictor, credentials would still need to be evenly distributed throughout the population to achieve your utopian vision.