[quoted in this post via Jordon Cooper]

It's natural for us to look at successful people and assume that their success is due to some innate quality they have, rather than to think that it may be the result of circumstance or chance. This is sometimes a reasonable assumption to make. But in the case of corporate performance, it's dangerous.

---from The Wisdom of Crowds: the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki