In New York, you may be a famous TV personality, who isn't nearly as cool as the fashion designer and makes less than a Goldman analyst, who in turn has money but is far less famous than you. Even if you can get into the hippest club you probably can't break into the ninth generation native gang sitting at the end of the Brooklyn bar talking about the Yankees, or be given the time of day by an NYPD detective.
Each of many subgroups is superlative, the subject of global admiration and books and movies and mythology. You can be truly exceptional in a category or three in a place like this but you will always be surrounded by people that have you badly beat in some other category that matters.
It keeps you humble, and prevents typical delusions like the idea that being the eleventh most crucial person in the creation of a killer 12 month old photo sharing computer program actually makes you consequential.