Success breeds success, yes. And some people are truly more talented than others, yes. But it still leaves tremendous gaps for the stupid to occur.

Consider the recent story about how Elon Musk (arguably the most brilliant polymath of our era) chewed out an employee for missing a work function attend the birth of his child. That's appallingly stupid. That's pure blindness to instinct, cultural values, and compassion. There you go. Elon Musk, fscking idiot.

More generally, a lot of people with brilliant technical skills have lousy social skills - social failings that can drag a team's effectiveness down as much as a technical idiot can.