Mark Cuban, Kobe Bryant, and 15 other people whose incredible work ethic paid off

ReutersMark Cuban.

Talent, connections, and money can help you get to where you want to go in live — but those things alone won’t do it. You also need to work hard to be truly successful.

Despite their obvious gifts, successful people like Kobe Bryant, Tim Cook, and Sheryl Sandberg wouldn’t be where they were today without having insane work ethics.

Here are the stories of 17 people whose hard work paid off:

This is an update of a story originally written by Max Nisen. Aaron Taube contributed reporting.