[Lara]

Interesting, and yet if you had gone to manage the area of the manager who'd consistently come in the bottom three and you had 'won' there without trying, I would accept that its about believing (law of attraction and all that positive affirmation stuff) and nothing to do with the circumstance of the other managers. or is the message some people are natural winners, and therefore some are born to lose regardless??

House is annoying because he is always right in the end, and doesn't have to 'try' to be brilliant. Like Sherlock Holmes (and the new iterations are deliberately House-like) the right answer comes from the deeper levels of intuition an intellect, missing in the rest of us. He would be insufferable if he bragged how easy it was. Its bad enough that he is smug sometimes.
The writers walk a fine line because few people like figjam mates.
His character is therefore balanced by his flaws and failings, often his inability to do the simple things that make the rest of us happy, like interact with people, to love and to trust.. his inner struggle with pain and addiction, or the way he drives away the people he needs most.