&gt;And let me guess, each of them demonstrates &quot;grit&quot; and is extremely hard working&#x2F;driven?<p>Not particularly so. Seems to me that there is a threshold of grit needed - that opens a lot of doors (incl 3rd world &gt; 1st world moves) but beyond that its got diminishing returns.<p>My point is that the lottery of birthplace does matter but its not an automatic show-stopper.