The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages… - Malcolm Gladwell

...mediocre people find their way into positions of authority...because when it comes to even the most important positions, our selection decisions are a good deal less rational than we think.

That seems horribly unfair, and it was. But as is so often the case with outliers, buried in that setback was a golden opportunity.

To look closely at complex behaviors like smoking or suicide or crime is to appreciate how suggestible we are in the face of what we see and hear, and how acutely sensitive we are to even the smallest details of everyday life. That's why social change is so volatile and so often inexplicable, because it is the nature of all of us to be volatile and inexplicable.