Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need to Succeed

[vgane]

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Dear sir,

Dear Renukaji,

Music itself is a study on its own.So I would never want to say that ARR was not good in studies.

Traditional studies in School are associated with the 3 R's-Reading, Writing & Arithmetics...

But for art & culture what is required is regular practice & using innovative ways of deploying it...I know lots of musicians who have not gone to School, even Music school but have come out in flying colors through this

 

[ozone]

Just as Intelligent would lament - 'How I wish I was successful?', I am guessing the successful ones would also be thinking - "How I wish I was more intelligent?"

 

[renuka]

Just as Intelligent would lament - 'How I wish I was successful?', I am guessing the successful ones would also be thinking - "How I wish I was more intelligent?"

Not everyone laments for more success.Some of us have even different wishes.
My only wish for my next life that no matter what I am born as.. I should be a vegetarian again.

 

[ozone]

My only wish for my next life that no matter what I am born as.. I should be a vegetarian again.

that rules out you being born a lioness or a tigress, etc.,

 

[renuka]

that rules out you being born a lioness or a tigress, etc.,

reminds me of this joke :


A Baptist missionary was walking in Africa when he heard the ominous padding of a lion behind him. "Oh Lord," prayed the missionary, "Grant in Thy goodness that the lion walking behind me is a good Christian lion."

And then, in the silence that followed, the missionary heard the lion
praying too: "Oh Lord," he prayed, "I thank Thee for the food which I
am about to receive."

 

[prasad1]

Dear JK,

For a doctor sometimes the situation differs.
I have had a few friends who were very very average students at college and even used to fail exams but have great surgical skills.


Some people have very very average IQ but have excellent surgical skills.

Thanks for validating the OP.
How do you think we rate "best doctors". It is not their IQ, it is the quality of care they provide. So all other skills including IQ plays a part.
Similarly in other fields as well. The topper in my batch rose up the ladder to be the head of planning in a MNC, but the guy who barely managed to pass was the most decorated CEO of the same MNC.

 

[prasad1]

Yes..succeful people do NOT need intelligence to succeed.
Anyone who is not brain dead can do anything in this world.
Intelligence is over rated.

Thats why I tell my son(he has a high IQ) all about EQ.
See no one taught me or anyone about EQ in school.
IQ was not a problem at all at school and at college but I feel that EQ is more important.

I can safely say I have quite a low EQ but since I dont measure success with money alone so I can say that I am contended and happy.

Todays kids need to be coached and guided about EQ.
It will help them face the challenges of the world better.

Beautifully said, and it helps that your personalize it.

 

[suraju06]

Renuka said this:

For a doctor sometimes the situation differs.
I have had a few friends who were very very average students at college and even used to fail exams but have great surgical skills.
Some people have very very average IQ but have excellent surgical skills.

Intelligence is all about questioning, visualising, hypothesising and internalising before setting the new path in any field. Skill is something that comes from training and a high level of intelligence is not a prerequisite for that. Skill requires a template to work with and intelligence visualises, designs and gives that template. If skill is driving the Ferrari and winning the Formula One intelligence is all about a Wenkel engine which is a path breaking design to improve the performance of a common IC engine. We need people with intelligence as well as people with skill.

Cheers.

 

[Naina_Marbus]

Dear ozone,

I have known many successful people in my field who even have a fleet of Porsche cars but the way they bend the rules to get there is sometimes not anyone of us would want to even dream off.

Some are blatant smooth talkers who can even sell you poison and you would gulp it.
These types ruin the medical field cos people start believing only what they say.

Once I had a patient who came to me saying he wanted me to do an Ultrasound abdomen to determine the progress of his gastric ulcer.

I told the patient he needs Endoscopy by a Gastroenterologist cos ultrasound abdomen wont pick up a gastric ulcer.

Patient got real wild with me saying that his regular GP has been treating him with medication and doing Ultrasound abdomen monthly and told me that his regular GP was on leave so he came to see me.

Patient started telling me that may be I lacked the experience to do an Ultrasound and thats why I wanted to refer him for Endoscopy.

So you see that doc was conning his patients and not refering them for endoscopy and patient thought thats the right thing.

I didnt tell the patient anything since he was already accusing me of being not experienced.
I thought let it be and its also not proffesional to point out another doctors con job cos patients cannot be trusted too.

So you see the harm con man do to the medical field?
Just to keep the patient and not wanting to refer him the doc could be missing out a diagnosis of stomach cancer.
But believe me patients somehow prefer con man docs these days.

Hope you are not painting all doctors with the same brush.

I am personally aware of many good doctors, for whom, occasionally, recommending certain procedures are indicative of a well-intentioned desire to find some means of alleviating the misery (real or imagined) of ignorant patients ( with money to splash around), for whom (with their half-baked knowledge about the value and validity of these procedures), there is the psychosomatic component of feeling better or even feeling cured just by demanding certain medicines or procedures and getting what they asked for !

In the olden days, patients wouldn't be satisfied if the doctor did not prescribe any medicines, and demanded that the doctor give them some injections. With such patients, the doctor, in order to provide psychosomatic relief, used to tell his assistant to give an injection of a 'red-coloured' liquid. He will call out:
கம்பௌண்டர்! இவங்களுக்கு அந்த செகப்பு மருந்து இன்ஜெக்ஷன் கொடுங்கோ!
Afterwards he would tell us that it was just coloured water! Incidentally, in those days, there was no private space for anybody. Doctors and patients will all be sitting in the same room, everyone watching as the doctor diagnosed each patient and dispensed his expertise. Your patient who wanted ultrasound was perhaps the modern day equivalent?

Of course, there were incompetent doctors who used the same trick to make money. Yes, doctors can also be motivated by greed when ordering procedures, doctors whom you describe as conmen. But such con games occur especially when there is a lack of education or knowledge or social power in the patients to resist the reckless intervention procedures ordered by these doctors.

 

[renuka]

But such con games occur especially when there is a lack of education or knowledge or social power in the patients to resistthe reckless intervention procedures ordered by these doctors.

Dear sir,

You would be surprised to know that its always the higher educated patients who can be conned cos they themselves try to be overly smart.
I had once a highly educated company executive who brought her dad in who had a stroke and she was insisting that I give Aspirin to her dad cos she read that Aspirin helps in stroke.

She didnt want to hear me out that there are 2 types of stroke;

1)caused by infarction
2)caused by intracranial bleed.

For the 2nd type(caused by bleed..Aspirin is totally contraindicated becos Aspirin being a blood thinner will worsen the Intracranial bleed and can even cause death.)

So till type of stroke is determined Aspirin should be put on hold.

She wasnt willing to listen and left the clinic.

So you see what I mean..the half baked knowledge of so called educated patients can be detrimental.

So this is where con doctors take advantage.
Some con would have started her dad on some real expensive blood thinner and telling her its better than Aspirin.
Cons are risk takers and somehow have the luck to escape too.

The simple folks are actually smarter that way...they dont demand as much.

 

[vgane]

Intelligence is derived from the Latin word intelligere meaning to discern or pick out..

Intelligence is the mental ability to think logically or in abstract terms,understanding, self realising, communicating, reasoning, learning and problem solving..

Can intelligence alone take us forward...All of us have agreed that we require additional facets of personality like EQ to succeed in life

However is the converse true? Have we found any person who is successful in any walk of life but without basic intelligence..

You would hardly find anyone

Intelligence is the sine qua non for success.


Let us cultivate intelligence...Make your brain literally grow and get stronger by learning

 

[Jaykay767]

Dear JK,

I will give you a simple example..sometimes its just being observant that actually helps you make a diagnosis.

Once when I was working in different set up many doctors there could not find the cause of rashes for a particular patient.

This young man in his early 20's had developed rashes and even seen specialist and cause for rashes was not determined.

Ok this patient was some sort of effeminate types and I am fond of such patients cos they talk with fanciful hand gestures and I read up lots about the gay community too out of personal interest.

One day I noticed he was wearing a black bra it was showing up thru his white shirt.
I asked him his sexual orientation and he told me he was gay and was a passive gay sorts.

I asked him "are you taking any hormone tablets to make your breast grow?"
and he said "yes"

So I told him to stop it and his rashes went away.It was a hormonal tablet allergy.
You see other doctors didnt dare ask a patient his sexual orientation and missed the finding.

Ok another case..Once I had a factory worker who showed up to hospital with elevated heart rate and tremors of hands.
All test done revealed nothing abnormal.

I noticed that this person had a good body physique.I asked him if he works out in gym and he said yes.
I asked him if he is taking any Fat Burners and he said yes.
Ok some fat burners come with high doses of caffeine and that can cause an increase in heart rate.

He stopped that fat burner and he was fine.

Ok you see I didnt learn about this from my text book.
Since I am a gym goer myself I spend lots of time reading exercise magazines esp men's magazines cos lots of info can be got from there.

Other doctors couldnt make the diagnosis cos they didnt read up on gym related complications.

So its not really intelligence I feel..its just having read the right info at the right time.

Hi Renuka,

The ability to connect across different experiences, events & similar situations is "intelligence". So you were/are very intelligent to connect all this together & provide the right solution to your patients.

Lets take an example. someone with high EQ but low intelligence. so he connects well with customers, raises in the corporate ladder & is successful.

Now the company gets into a crisis, competitors are even more "smart & intelligent" than our successful high EQ low IQ fellow. Now however successful one is (many maybachs in his garage), he does NOT have the intelligence to come with solutions for this crisis. so there ends his career.

so you have seen so many CEO's of companies getting kicked out. so EQ can take you far enough (no doubt), but eventually will have to fail without IQ.

for eg, if your son is very high IQ, solves the problems immediately then with some EQ learning he will go very high in life.

On the other hand you take another "mada makku" with excellent father's connection, high society network, gets all the support, he will eventually fail becos he is a "mada makku" !!

I once hired a 5 times gold medalist lady in my team, but very poor EQ, dressing sense was terrible, etc.. Infact my team members were surprised at this choice. She beat everyone in the team & got us "windfall profits". she got married & relocated to another place. Today she is the worldwide product director in an American MNC. So she & her team created the "most successful product ever" in this MNC company's history. so if you want your company to succeed & make you a "windfall profit", hire the best of the best !!. They will always deliver !!

I can quote many many many such instances.

In short, average or low intelligence but very high EQ, very successful people will get beaten finally by High IQ with good EQ People

Such is life. Only the Geniuses, Super IQ's create path breaking inventions, create new economies, reforms, great nations etc..

Lets celebrate & revere Intelligence !!

Cheers,
JK

 

[renuka]

Hi Renuka,

The ability to connect across different experiences, events & similar situations is "intelligence". So you were/are very intelligent to connect all this together & provide the right solution to your patients.

Lets take an example. someone with high EQ but low intelligence. so he connects well with customers, raises in the corporate ladder & is successful.

Now the company gets into a crisis, competitors are even more "smart & intelligent" than our successful high EQ low IQ fellow. Now however successful one is (many maybachs in his garage), he does NOT have the intelligence to come with solutions for this crisis. so there ends his career.

so you have seen so many CEO's of companies getting kicked out. so EQ can take you far enough (no doubt), but eventually will have to fail without IQ.

for eg, if your son is very high IQ, solves the problems immediately then with some EQ learning he will go very high in life.

On the other hand you take another "mada makku" with excellent father's connection, high society network, gets all the support, he will eventually fail becos he is a "mada makku" !!

I once hired a 5 times gold medalist lady in my team, but very poor EQ, dressing sense was terrible, etc.. Infact my team members were surprised at this choice. She beat everyone in the team & got us "windfall profits". she got married & relocated to another place. Today she is the worldwide product director in an American MNC. So she & her team created the "most successful product ever" in this MNC company's history. so if you want your company to succeed & make you a "windfall profit", hire the best of the best !!. They will always deliver !!

I can quote many many many such instances.

In short, average or low intelligence but very high EQ, very successful people will get beaten finally by High IQ with good EQ People

Such is life. Only the Geniuses, Super IQ's create path breaking inventions, create new economies, reforms, great nations etc..

Lets celebrate & revere Intelligence !!

Cheers,
JK

Dear JK,

Agreed..what you said makes lots of sense too.
But you see part of being a doctor is to be able to go without sleep sometimes even for more than 24 hours.

Out here when on call at a government hospital at times we have to work some 48 hours at a stretch and may be just able to get some 2 hours sleep.

Thats very very stressful and those of us who could not cope with these demands quit after the compulsory stint was over and opted to work in our own clinics.

Those who could cope with this further studied a subspeciality.
Here after subspecializing we will be posted to remote areas of East Malaysia too and life there is very very hard.

It can be very stressful to work away from family etc.
I noted that my average intelligence friends could cope with all pressures of bad tempered bosses, hours of lack of sleep and able to work under any condition.

Thats what I am saying...they had EQ and could survive anything but when they were in college even passing an exam used to be so hard for them.

Some of us when pressure builds up we just feel "what am I doing here..do I need to go through all this" and do not go further.

Recently out here a trainee doctor committed suicide in the on call room cos he was finding internship too stressful.

I even had a senior who committed suicide many years ago cos he could not cope with internship too.
He was a top student but could not cope with stress.

Thats what I am talking about..many of us might be intelligent but inability to cope with severe stress might just not make us shine.

 

[Jaykay767]

Hi Renuka,

In the case of Obama v/s Romney, the reason why I say people to choose Romney is becos he is a "financial genius". He created super sucessful companies, made a hell a lot of money, his VC firm was/is even more successful. His "super intelligent" investments are making huge amounts of money even when he is spending a lot of time on the Campaign. & by all accounts has been a a very successful governor, balanced the budget, delievered on his promises.

Now if he comes the president, then he will lead US back to a economic superpower & a great nation ! this is what "super IQ" folks do always

if on the other hand they re-elect Obama, he will take the economy to deep recession & depression. Millions will lose jobs & they will learn one of the most expensive lessons ever to 'always elect the best of the best"

Infact it is better for Obama to be re-elected & make a total mess of the economy. then people will learn & this will be taught in all history books, will be a lesson for all other countries & generations to come so it will do more good in the long term.

History always teachs us the best lessons. Genius Kings & commanders will lead their people to safety & these kings are celebrated. rest of the mediocre kings & commanders fall on the wayside, but with millions lose their lives in the process.

PS: I know Obama supporters will be all over on this, but welcome any rational objections, analysis as always

Cheers,
JK

 

[Jaykay767]

Dear JK,

Agreed..what you said makes lots of sense too.
But you see part of being a doctor is to be able to go without sleep sometimes even for more than 24 hours.

Out here when on call at a government hospital at times we have to work some 48 hours at a stretch and may be just able to get some 2 hours sleep.

Thats very very stressful and those of us who could not cope with these demands quit after the compulsory stint was over and opted to work in our own clinics.

Those who could cope with this further studied a subspeciality.
Here after subspecializing we will be posted to remote areas of East Malaysia too and life there is very very hard.

It can be very stressful to work away from family etc.
I noted that my average intelligence friends could cope with all pressures of bad tempered bosses, hours of lack of sleep and able to work under any condition.

Thats what I am saying...they had EQ and could survive anything but when they were in college even passing an exam used to be so hard for them.

Some of us when pressure builds up we just feel "what am I doing here..do I need to go through all this" and do not go further.

Recently out here a trainee doctor committed suicide in the on call room cos he was finding internship too stressful.

I even had a senior who committed suicide many years ago cos he could not cope with internship too.
He was a top student but could not cope with stress.

Thats what I am talking about..many of us might be intelligent but inability to cope with severe stress might just not make us shine.

Hi Renuka,

absolutely agree with you. Infact one need - EQ (Emotional Quotient), PQ (Political Quotient), AQ (Adversity Quotient), NQ (networking Quotient) to handle pressure, stress, politics, adversity & connect with others in the society.

But I am concerned on the comment that "Intelligence is NOT required". One needs "Intelligence" + "lot more" to succeed !!

Cheers,
JK

 

[prasad1]

Mr. JK,
I am sorry to say that You read selectively, and understand even less.

Albert Einstein’s was estimated at 160, Madonna’s is 140, and John F. Kennedy’s was only 119, but as it turns out, your IQ score pales in comparison with your EQ, MQ, and BQ scores when it comes to predicting your success and professional achievement.

No were it said "Intelligence is NOT required". You are making it up and then condemning it, typical Tea Party myth.

 

[Jaykay767]

Mr. JK,
I am sorry to say that You read selectively, and understand even less.

No were it said "Intelligence is NOT required". You are making it up and then condemning it, typical Tea Party myth.

I was reacting to the following comments from the members. I did not say the research paper said this.
Quote>>>>>

Some people have very very average IQ but have excellent surgical skills.

Intelligence has very little role to play after a while cos its all boils down to experience finally.

So its not really intelligence I feel..its just having read the right info at the right time.

So, what is the bottom line? Successful people dont need intelligence to succeed.

Yes..succeful people do NOT need intelligence to succeed.
Anyone who is not brain dead can do anything in this world.
Intelligence is over rated.

And your Post #32

Unquote<<<<
PS: Lets put this to rest - I am not a republican or tea party !!.

 

[renuka]

Dear JK,

I personally feel there is not much difference in the IQ of anyone.
Its all just smart studying,techniques and preserverance thats all.
I still believe that practice makes perfect and further more we are only talking about one specific field.

I might be a doctor and thats all it is.. nothing more.I still need to see a mechanic to get my car repaired.
Someone else might be a lawyer and he still needs a service man to service his Air condition unit.

So how can we say we are intelligent? Do we know everything?
We just know the tip of the iceberg.

In our Puranas I think Sage Uddalaka was talking about EQ long back when he asked his son Swetaketu;

My dear, why are you so conceited? Have you learnt that, by learning which the unheard becomes heard, the unknown becomes known, the unperceived becomes perceived.

From these words it was evident that IQ is not everything.
Even Adishankara thought highly about Totaka who was so called lesser intelligent than the rest of his disciples.
And becos of his devotion to Adi Shankara divine knowledge was transferred to him instantly and was then forth known as Totakaracharya.

Acharyas of yesteryears knew that bookish intelligence need not always confer success.

 

[Naina_Marbus]

Well, here is a story from Panchatantra touching upon this theme:

FRIENDS WHO BROUGHT A DEAD LION BACK TO LIFE

In a certain town, there lived four young friends. Three of them were very well versed in the shastras. The fourth was completely ignorant of any shastras, and the rest called him moodan.

One day, these four friends had a discussion together about earning a livelihood by moving elsewhere.

Accordingly, they set out on a journey. When they had travelled some distance, they came to a jungle and found the bones of a dead lion. One of the well-versed suggested, 'Let's put our scholarship to test. Here lies a dead lion. We'll see if we can bring him back to life'. And so, one of them collected bones and made a skeleton of a lion. The second one put flesh and blood into it, covering it with skin. The third one was on the verge of putting the life back into the lion, when the fourth one, the moodan, restrained him. 'Stop, don't do that! If you bring this dead lion back to life, he'll kill all of us!'

But the three well-versed friends shouted, "You don't think we are going to waste our vast knowledge after we have come so far." “'All right then”, said the unversed moodan, “ just wait a minute, while I climb up this tree”. And off he went up the tree.

The third friend brought the lion back to life. The lion immediately pounced on the three of them and killed them. The moodan waited until the lion had gone, then got down from the tree and went back home.

Moral: Common sense is better than reservoirs of knowledge.

 

[Jaykay767]

Well, here is a story from Panchatantra touching upon this theme:

FRIENDS WHO BROUGHT A DEAD LION BACK TO LIFE

In a certain town, there lived four young friends. Three of them were very well versed in the shastras. The fourth was completely ignorant of any shastras, and the rest called him moodan.

One day, these four friends had a discussion together about earning a livelihood by moving elsewhere.

Accordingly, they set out on a journey. When they had travelled some distance, they came to a jungle and found the bones of a dead lion. One of the well-versed suggested, 'Let's put our scholarship to test. Here lies a dead lion. We'll see if we can bring him back to life'. And so, one of them collected bones and made a skeleton of a lion. The second one put flesh and blood into it, covering it with skin. The third one was on the verge of putting the life back into the lion, when the fourth one, the moodan, restrained him. 'Stop, don't do that! If you bring this dead lion back to life, he'll kill all of us!'

But the three well-versed friends shouted, "You don't think we are going to waste our vast knowledge after we have come so far." “'All right then”, said the unversed moodan, “ just wait a minute, while I climb up this tree”. And off he went up the tree.

The third friend brought the lion back to life. The lion immediately pounced on the three of them and killed them. The moodan waited until the lion had gone, then got down from the tree and went back home.

Moral: Common sense is better than reservoirs of knowledge.

Common Sense is "Intelligence". Hence "Common Sense" is uncommon

 

[Jaykay767]

Dear JK,

I personally feel there is not much difference in the IQ of anyone.
Its all just smart studying,techniques and preserverance thats all.
I still believe that practice makes perfect and further more we are only talking about one specific field.

I might be a doctor and thats all it is.. nothing more.I still need to see a mechanic to get my car repaired.
Someone else might be a lawyer and he still needs a service man to service his Air condition unit.

So how can we say we are intelligent? Do we know everything?
We just know the tip of the iceberg.

In our Puranas I think Sage Uddalaka was talking about EQ long back when he asked his son Swetaketu;


From these words it was evident that IQ is not everything.
Even Adishankara thought highly about Totaka who was so called lesser intelligent than the rest of his disciples.
And becos of his devotion to Adi Shankara divine knowledge was transferred to him instantly and was then forth known as Totakaracharya.

Acharyas of yesteryears knew that bookish intelligence need not always confer success.

Hi Renuka,

There are 2 things that contributes to Intelligence. First is "learning", Second is "applying this learning".

if a person is apply this learning well into any field, then they are "intelligent". for eg, Einstien is a Genius. If everyone was Genius or Intelligence was NOT required, then many people would have written the "theory of relativity" !

Less than 0.005% win nobel prizes & they are the "MAJOR" contributors of all advances in science, maths, medicine etc..


thats why Geniuses are rare & need to be celebrated !!.


Cheers,
JK

 

[C RAVI]

Hi Renuka,

There are 2 things that contributes to Intelligence. First is "learning", Second is "applying this learning".

if a person is apply this learning well into any field, then they are "intelligent". for eg, Einstien is a Genius. If everyone was Genius or Intelligence was NOT required, then many people would have written the "theory of relativity" !

Less than 0.005% win nobel prizes & they are the "MAJOR" contributors of all advances in science, maths, medicine etc..


thats why Geniuses are rare & need to be celebrated !!.


Cheers,
JK

Dear JK,

Yeah!!! "Learning correctly" and "applying this learning correctly" constitutes intelligence. Whether an intelligent person was successful in his/her life or not can be due to many reasons. Personal reasons as well as external/others that/who all can cause failure to an intelligent person.

An intelligent person may not go against his/her principles to succeed, finding himself/herself amidst others who are using some or other short cuts and influences. As well. an intelligent person's successful attempts may be foiled by others.

Whatever may be the reason of failure of such intelligent person, these reasons would not prove that person as non intelligent.

Intelligence has its own values that can bring out the Genius in a person, enabling him/her to make major contribution.

Intelligence requires other skills/tactics as well to give perfect shape and strength to intelligence and be successful BUT the lack of the skills that may bring about failures can not underrate intelligence.

Needless to say, in this human world, many tend to consider a person as intelligent who is successful and not those who are failures. In such a scenario, many may find that Intelligence is Overrated, when they could find an average person succeeding in his/her profession with all his/her skills and tactics OR luck!!

Only people who are successful and had great achievements, irrespective of the manner, ways and means they could achieve, are considered to be intelligent, having identified and applied the right strategy at the right time, no matter if that has side lined the deserving individual. So many tend to look down upon Intelligence. That is, in the sense that "Intelligence is Overrated".

Intelligence and the resultant expertise can never be considered Overrated, IMHO.

Failures due to non manipulative skills, tactics and lack of right opportunity at the right time may lead to underestimation of one's intelligence. But, that should not make us conclude that "Intelligence is Overrated" , IMHO.

"correct learning" is under our control BUT "correct application of this learning" is subjected to many challenges, beyond one's control.

We can not underrate intelligence just because challenges were not handled effectively/favorably to bring about success.

Let us not correlate "Intelligence" with "Success" and underrate intelligence upon failures.

 

[Jaykay767]

Dear JK,

Yeah!!! "Learning correctly" and "applying this learning correctly" constitutes intelligence. Whether an intelligent person was successful in his/her life or not can be due to many reasons. Personal reasons as well as external/others that/who all can cause failure to an intelligent person.

An intelligent person may not go against his/her principles to succeed, finding himself/herself amidst others who are using some or other short cuts and influences. As well. an intelligent person's successful attempts may be foiled by others.

Whatever may be the reason of failure of such intelligent person, these reasons would not prove that person as non intelligent.

Intelligence has its own values that can bring out the Genius in a person, enabling him/her to make major contribution.

Intelligence requires other skills/tactics as well to give perfect shape and strength to intelligence and be successful BUT the lack of the skills that may bring about failures can not underrate intelligence.

Needless to say, in this human world, many tend to consider a person as intelligent who is successful and not those who are failures. In such a scenario, many may find that Intelligence is Overrated, when they could find an average person succeeding in his/her profession with all his/her skills and tactics OR luck!!

Only people who are successful and had great achievements, irrespective of the manner, ways and means they could achieve, are considered to be intelligent, having identified and applied the right strategy at the right time, no matter if that has side lined the deserving individual. So many tend to look down upon Intelligence. That is, in the sense that "Intelligence is Overrated".

Intelligence and the resultant expertise can never be considered Overrated, IMHO.

Failures due to non manipulative skills, tactics and lack of right opportunity at the right time may lead to underestimation of one's intelligence. But, that should not make us conclude that "Intelligence is Overrated" , IMHO.

"correct learning" is under our control BUT "correct application of this learning" is subjected to many challenges, beyond one's control.

We can not underrate intelligence just because challenges were not handled effectively/favorably to bring about success.

Let us not correlate "Intelligence" with "Success" and underrate intelligence upon failures.

Agree & well said !

 

[ozone]

Let us not correlate "Intelligence" with "Success" and underrate intelligence upon failures.

But thats what the OP is trying to do.
May be we agree that Intelligence is not the key to 'success', not all are successful, so for those who dont succeed, they need intelligence to succeed (or survive?).

 

[Naina_Marbus]

Common Sense is "Intelligence". Hence "Common Sense" is uncommon

Following an earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 in Japan, a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials occurred at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. There were six separate reactors. At the time of the quake, Reactor 4 had been de-fuelled while 5 and 6 were, luckily, in cold shutdown for planned maintenance. The remaining reactors shut down automatically after the earthquake, and emergency generators came online to control electronics and coolant systems. The tsunami broke the reactors' connection to the power grid and also resulted in flooding of the rooms containing the emergency generators. Consequently those generators ceased working and the pumps that circulate coolant water in the reactor ceased to work, causing the reactors to begin to overheat. The flooding and earthquake damage hindered external assistance. Subsequently, reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced full meltdown. As workers struggled to cool and shut down the reactors, several explosions occurred. Workers suffered radiation exposure and were temporarily evacuated at various times.The accident was assessed as Level 7, the maximum scale value. The plant is now decommissioned.

The technocrats who built the reactors were all intelligent and knowledgeable. But they lacked the commonsense to avoid putting so many reactors close to each other, knowing fully well that the country and the region are visited frequently by earth-quakes and tsunamis. Simple commonsense dictates that they could at least have distributed the reactors over a wider region across the country.