Next step: acknowledge that although you're absolutely wonderful, you had to work very hard to correct a slight deficiency. Maria Vandamme, founder of the Melba Foundation, for instance, explains that a very wise friend told her there were five requirements for leadership: "vision, knowledge, courage, urgency and judgment", and the secret was to decide "which one you need to focus on to turn the corner".

Maria did a comprehensive character stock-take. Vision? No problem. Knowledge? You betcha. Courage? Of course. Judgment? In spades. There was, however, an apparent lack of urgency. "I worked on urgency, and as soon as I did that, everything fell into place." [Maria has actually achieved some worthwhile things, not the least of which is muscling an awful lot of money out of the Government for promoting classical music, but having mastered urgency, she might want to do a bit of work on humility.]

There are a handful of the successful 40 that seem to display recognisably human characteristics, but wouldn't it be nice if the editors who come up with these stories once in a while included someone whose success was measured in terms that didn't involve making a lot of money, or achieving high-status positions in business or the professions?

People who were successful in living rich and contented lives for instance. Great friends. Great family makers. Great thinkers. Great carers. Great teachers etc., etc., etc. There's not a single person in this collection whose biography we'd like to read. In our view, that's a measure of real success.