Do you believe in great leaders? I don't mean that rhetorically.

Often we describe great events with respect to great individuals: the reign of queens like Victoria, the breakthroughs of inventors like Einstein.

The alternative, that great events evolve from great systems, can scare me. Systems seem further from my control; systems introduce luck and misfortune and randomness.

Imagine a great leader and a flock of idiots. That convinces me that great individuals do not suffice to produce great results. Yet also imagine great groups competing through mutually exclusive causes. The interaction, the collaboration, matters.

Certainly a great leader can foster collaboration, yet systems can foster collaboration too, systems of money, and law, for instance.

Numerically speaking, very few people can become top leaders. And even roles we commonly imagine as top leaders, e.g. the President, have checks and balances.

Optimistically, if great events come from great groups interacting greatly, then we can all call ourselves great, and take credit and responsibility for great events together.