To put what I said another way, try to do the kind of work that gets snatched up quickly when it's on the market, so the people you're competing with are all otherwise happily employed. It's not as hard as you may think, to be "among the best". Very few people are trying that hard to begin with, so you can make a lot of ground quickly.

Also, when 6 out of 8 of those billion people aren't nourished or raised in a way that grows their brain (physically or developmentally), it's not hard to beat them, and then from there other opportunities whittle it down.

Also also, in western culture (which is where the jobs I know anything about are), there are huge payoffs for being at least a little arrogant. If you're not arrogant, you're going to lose to someone who is.