Money in itself is not sufficient to prove someone is smart, but Apotheker clearly did right something I'm doing wrong ;-)

This assumes that everything in life depends only on you. Luck plays a big role in business.

Not at all clear; maybe he just took much bigger risks than you and got lucky.

I think we'd all agree that luck plays a big part in all of our lives, but he did become the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world.

If you think this was due to "luck" then I'd strongly disagree. Luck provides opportunities, but people have to take them and make the absolute most of those opportunities to even come close to the career that this man has had.