IQ isn’t everything. In fact, research shows that beyond a certain average IQ, it makes no difference when we measure it in terms of future success. That’s why Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has argued that a person’s attitude predicts their success far more strongly than their IQ.
In other words, if Albert Einstein had been a businessman competing against your company, he wouldn’t have had any tactical advantage over you. Although in Einstein’s case, I’m sure he would have known this and used it to his advantage.
Even so, there are certain qualities or traits that all highly intelligent people share, though we don’t know whether they’re intelligent because they have these traits, or whether these traits are what made them so intelligent.
A Quora thread that asked this very question drew some interesting, scientifically backed answers. We’re going to take some of the best answers and adapt them, adding a few points of our own.
These are the traits of very intelligent people
See also: 9 things you can do every day to become smarter
1. Intelligent people are adaptable
Highly intelligent people are flexible and able to thrive in different contexts and environments, whether the environment is favourable or they find themselves in the middle of adversity. As the saying goes, in times of change it isn’t the strongest or the fastest who wins, but the one who best knows how to adapt to change.
And the truth is that psychological research backs up this idea: intelligence depends on the ability to change your own behaviour in order to cope with a new environment as effectively as possible.
In other words, where everyone else sees difficulty, intelligent people see opportunity. Where everyone else sees obstacles, intelligent people see what lies behind those obstacles. Some people see this way of thinking as cheap motivational talk. We call it intelligence, plain and simple.
2. Intelligent people know how much they don’t know
The arrogant know everything. The intelligent are aware of the many things they don’t know. They aren’t afraid to say they don’t know something or don’t understand a particular concept. Knowing your virtues and strengths helps you reach your goals; knowing your weaknesses helps you avoid fighting battles you won’t win.
Sometimes you can be very tenacious and capable at something, but if you attack someone else on their strongest ground, you’re going to lose. If you’re aware of your strengths and weaknesses and you have a small business, you can take on a big company, as long as you know how to use your greatest strength against that company’s greatest weakness.
3. They’re sceptical
Scepticism might seem like the enemy of an open mind, since it resists new ideas, but the truth is that intelligent people need facts. They can let new ideas into their heads, as long as those ideas are backed by something more than an expert’s opinion.
They tend to have a strong aversion to taking things at “face value”, so they withhold belief until it’s backed by evidence.
In fact, intelligent people have succeeded in fields where many experts said it couldn’t be done. Thanks to sceptical people, the world has made considerable medical and scientific progress over the last few decades.
4. They ask questions. Very good questions
As the saying goes: “If you ask about something you don’t understand, you may look foolish today, but you’ll be wise tomorrow. If you don’t ask so as not to look foolish today, you’ll be a fool for life.”
But to find the right answers, we have to ask the right questions. That’s why intelligent people challenge their own thinking with lots of questions, and in doing so find new solutions to old problems.
They’re curious by nature, and that, combined with their natural scepticism, leads them to great solutions by challenging their own thinking.
5. They’re sensitive to other people’s experiences
Intelligent people listen to others and develop a strong capacity for empathy, which is a basic ingredient of the emotional intelligence so often talked about today, emotional intelligence being an essential requirement for success.
They’re usually very keen to talk to new people and learn everything they can from them. In fact, even though they choose to surround themselves with very intelligent people, they know that most people have something to offer if you know how to listen carefully. Everyone has worries and concerns, and almost everyone has mastered some subject you know nothing about. If you talk to people, understand people and listen to people, you’ll open your mind to another level.
6. An open mind
Finally, intelligent people don’t close themselves off. They’re always open to new ideas and opportunities, because they know that sometimes the intelligence of the many is more powerful than the intelligence of a small group of experts. That’s how James Surowiecki puts it in his book The Wisdom of Crowds, which argues that the many are smarter than the few.
They’ll always consider other points of view and stay open to alternative solutions, even if those weren’t part of their thinking at first. They never stop reading and learning.
See also: 5 books you can read to become smarter
Featured image: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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