It's Not What You Think...

Not one of these contributing factors is  surprising. The order of importance and significance, however, is:

1. desire
2. wealth
3. ruthlessness
4. luck
5. diligence
6. talents
7. knowledge
8. education
9. training
10. beauty
11. intellectual abilities
12. physical health & energy
13. ethics

Greed leads to desire, which creates  motivation. That's the primary factor and is absolutely essential. A lack of it would render financial success totally impossible. All others factors can be cross-compensated, with extra efforts.