I think the underperformers and overperformers are very much the same pool of people. The difference between a king and a hanged man is whether the guy got away with it: there's no special category of the virtuous succeeders.

The categories would be 'normal', and 'those that pushed their luck'. The harder you push, the farther you get, unless you blow it. Sometimes it shocks people when their paragons turn out to be reprobates, but it doesn't shock me because to me it's the same category.

Yes, but our society doesn't elevate underperformers so they disappear when you're talking about "who dominates what industry?"