Does the Great Man approach to history still have use?

[FrustratedFool]

Of course, bel. That's the Great Man approach, as far as I understand it (from that wiki). It doesn't discount the influence of the environment/context all the impersonal forces of society and nature, but it does highlight and say that these forces are concentrated through the lens of peculiar people whose rare qualities bring about radical changes that wouldn't likely have occurred without them. That rare individuals and their lives are what makes the final most definitative difference.

I guess in one sense its the genetic approach to history - saying that individual genetics are vitally important as to how history turns out. I tend to agree. Human history seems largely driven by 1% of humans, and the rest don't so much make history as follow in its wake.