Appointing a winner is no guarantee of success. - Blair McPherson

It's generally assumed that if you appoint the right person success will follow. This assumption arises out of the tendency to look at successful organisations and attribute success to leadership. It is true that successful organisations are all well led but it doesn't follow that the right leader will guaranty success. 

Why does a managers enjoy considerable success in one place but failures in another? It's clearly not just about their leadership skill. Ask a chief executive and they will say it's about having the resources to match the ambition and the appetite for the fight. Ask a politician and they will say it's events. The unanticipated things that happen that throw an organisation off course.