However your comment or rather your example is blatantly bad. For starters, they brought back Steve Jobs who had massive connections beyond any of the other CEOs who were leading Apple at the time, and definitely more than most other people out there. Most people aren't in that position and surely don't have the type of influence Steve Jobs does. He's bigger now than he was in the 90s by all measures but make no mistake, Steve Jobs was an icon even back then. To use Apple as an argument for this is just plain bad.
There are lots of people who work hard. Immigrant fruit pickers, waitresses, WalMart greeters. I'd question whether they get what they want in life. Of course they may have other goals than material gain, but hard work won't make them materially rich.
Success requires three basic ingredients. Luck - right place and time, being born into the right country, right family and so on and so forth. In other words, the hand you get dealt in life, which you don't have influence over. Brains - not necessarily education, but wit, quick thinking, "emotional intelligence" and so on, the ability to think for yourself and apply what you know to real-world problems.
Finally, yes, hard work, but only if applied with luck and brains.
As Jean-Paul Getty said, "Formula for success: Rise early, work hard, strike oil."