The real sting here is that it extends blame and credit equally upward and downward—you can't fault a toxic workplace by pointing at bad apples alone, nor can you fix a dysfunctional company by hiring better people. Tony Hsieh learned this the hard way at Zappos, where he discovered that even brilliant individuals become mediocre in a culture that doesn't match their values, while ordinary people accomplish extraordinary things within the right one. When Netflix famously fired talented employees who didn't fit their culture of radical candor, they weren't being cruel; they were protecting the destiny the founders had chosen. The quote's power lies in forcing us to look not at who we are, but at the systems we've built—or allowed to persist.