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One thing I’ve noticed while working with lots of people and recruiting/interviewing is that IQ is a vastly overrated commodity.
I’ve met and worked with some very high IQ people, but who lack directed (self-)motivation and depth/breadth of thought, and therefore are highly limited in their ultimate future achievements or progress.
IQ is high horsepower, but does not necessarily imply:
1. “Directed” horsepower towards a long-term goal (a fast racecar without a clear direction doesn’t really get you very far).
2. “Depth” of thought, which could be construed as horsepower directed towards a problem or topic with a high degree of complexity, which involves staying with a problem/issue longer and is anything beyond what’s immediately obvious, visible, or well-posed for immediate computation.
3. “Breadth” of thought, which is accounting for non-obvious factors and using ideas outside the immediate problem or field that might not be immediately obvious
High IQ is basically getting to 90% understanding very quickly, but that last 10% is what matters in anything meaningful (building a business, creating a new scientific theory, coming to some philosophical insights, writing a meaningful piece of literature, composing a song, large-scale software engineering), which goes…
