Round peg square hole

[SmoothOper]

I have been watching the by lines of a couple of players that were cut from their respective professions Tim Tebow (NFL) and Royce White (NBA). It sort of made me wonder how much of the talent and success in Go is based on being able to play a specific part that is preordained to be a winner by a bureaucratic organization. At first glance it would appear that it is an individuals success, on the other hand if you look at the Korean institutions that turn out these go players(I think of them not unlike puppy mills), having the predisposition to work in and represent these institutions seems like a huge advantage, for example Lee Changho wasn't just expected to win he was expected to be a household name and spread the popularity of the game itself. Furthermore, I gather not all go players play along with this for example Lee Sidol's boycott. I wonder how much of an advantage the bureaucratic royal jelly actually is, and does being able to win despite bucking the system give a player an extra amount of notoriety?