But his determination to succeed through hard work seems refreshing in today's China, in which connections and canny strategy seem to guarantee success more often than simple perseverance.

Despite a carefully cultivated reputation as a volatile, capricious leader, Kim Jong-il has pursued a consistent, even canny, strategy in his pursuit of nuclear arms.

One of his canniest strategies has been to raise the bar so high that even the smallest of compromises seems like moderation.

In fact, amiability or relative noncompetitiveness in humans' evolutionary past may have proved quite canny reproductive strategies, with as much to recommend them as power-grabbing.

But the recording process might have gone nowhere, were it not for the canny strategy of making it backward-compatible.

It was a canny strategy, for it enlisted 800 million peasants - four-fifths of China's population.

If this is indeed the case, it's quite a canny strategy.

As for brokers, many argue that seeming eager to sell - even if you aren't - is a canny strategy.

But investment bankers in the United States and Britain who are not directly involved in the deal are praising Sir James's canny strategy.

Finally, and crucially, Rovio put together a remarkably canny strategy for getting to the top of the iPhone chart.