I found it interesting that Steve Jobs was worth "only" about $6B when he died, and more of that wealth came from Pixar than Apple. But, the driving force behind wealthy and successful people is very rarely money.
I don't quite believe that. Look at periods of history where high taxes on wealth have led to a drastic decrease in entrepreneurship activity. I think the dream of becoming wealthy is what does drive people initially, however, (not through experience but from what I've learned from others) once wealthy the pursuit of earning more money does not become the motivation - although I did work for someone who had sold a previous company for a lot of money who went against this.
It seems you do need that initial dream to be about wealth in order to get some people to reach for success.
Off the top of my head, I believe before Margaret Thatcher took office in Britain, taxes reached 99% at the top level which stagnated the economy. There are other periods I have read about but can't remember the specifics at the moment.
