[MRip]

Aha! Someone noticed the one thing missing from my list of high IQ traits. Nowhere does it say that “High IQ people are successful".

Generally, people with high IQs have above average incomes, but it seems that having a high IQ is not a predictor of financial success. Why is this so?

The answer is simple. The vast majority of the things we do in life, like the jobs we work at, don’t require a high IQ. To be a doctor or a lawyer, for example, one only has to have an IQ of around 115 to 120. Once you are there, you “get it”. You are smart enough. The guy with the 145 IQ (listen up internet-certified geniuses) has no real advantage over your 120. So unless you are planning a career in Theoretical Physics, simply having a high IQ doesn’t really mean much. In fact, it can hurt you.

What?! (asks the internet-certified genius to himself). How can my superior IQ hurt me?

Well, there is a simple answer to that too. You can have a high IQ and still be a complete moron. That’s right – there is a difference between “intelligent” and “smart”.

Now, some people will talk about people with high IQs not having “street smarts”. That is NOT what I am talking about. Street smarts are nothing more than experiential learning. Take the street smart guy off the street, and he is still an idiot. In other words, his “smarts” only works in a given context as a result of prolonged learning within that context. Take away the context – take away to “smarts.”

What I am really talking about is Practical Intelligence. Take another look at my above post. Do you believe that the person I described is one who gets ahead? Not likely – not people who are that grumpy. People with high IQs often lack practical intelligence, which roughly defined, is the ability of a person to discern, interact with, and shape his environment.

And what is the environment? It is a big crowd of people with average intelligence (not anyone from this thread, mind you). To get what you want from the world, you must (gasp!) effectively interact with these average folks. People with high IQs have a hard time doing this because of how they think. They value logic, correctness, and efficiency, and they don’t care what others think. This is a poor method for getting what you want out of life.

People (even you internet-certified geniuses) make decisions based on three criteria: Rationality, Emotion, and Culture (some might argue the fourth criteria is Genetics, but it’s impact can’t be readily discerned or manipulated, so we’ll just leave it out…if it’s ok with the internet-certified geniuses…). These three criteria play into everything we do. The problem with your typical person with a high IQ is that they think very rationally, and are unable to appreciate the impact of the other two when deciding what to do or how to behave.

Think about it. You are at a party and your boss makes a point about a trivial matter during the course of a conversation. You know this point to be incorrect. What do you do? The 120 IQ lets it go. After all, it is a trivial matter not worthy of further discussion. The 150 IQ, though, may not. He values correctness and can’t comprehend why everyone else doesn’t. He proceeds to correct his boss, in public, on the trivial matter. Smart? I don’t think so. More like the classic example of the guy with the high IQ who (counter intuitively) is also a complete moron.

So, for the one or two average people on this thread, take heart. Your 125 IQ is plenty to do whatever you want in life, and in a holistic sense, you are probably a lot “smarter” than your internet-certified 145 buddies.
RIP