Am I Smart Enough?

For over 100 years, Americans have been obsessed with a number that, through a twisted and horrific path, came to represent the value of a human being.

If this number is high, the person is perceived as extraordinary because they have some ability beyond the rest of us. But if this number is low, the perception is the person is somehow deficient.

That number is the intelligence quotient, or “IQ.”

What many people don’t know is that the purpose of the original IQ test, created by French psychologist Alfred Binet, was not to identify those who were of above average intelligence, but below. France had established a national policy that all French children should be educated and, in 1904, asked Binet and his student, Theodore Simon, to create a test to identify those children who might have difficulties learning in school. The Simon-Binet Scale was born, and helped French children who needed extra help get an education.

The Simon-Binet test found its way into the hands of psychologists in the U.S., and the purpose quickly flipped, in classic American-competitive style, to focus not on who needed help, but who was “the best.” Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman revised the Simon-Binet Scale, so that it became known as the Stanford-Binet Test, and in 1921 started tracking the lives of over 1,500 children in California who scored over 135 on his test.

As a result of his findings, Terman became an advocate for “eugenics,” a movement that started in the 1880s that proposed establishing a process of “breeding” to perpetuate a “smart” population, while reducing the number of “feeble-minded” people. This resulted in 33 states legalizing sterilization of those who scored below average on the IQ test, and over 60,000 Americans were involuntarily sterilized over the course of about 50 years. (As I said, the IQ test has had a twisted and horrific path.)

One conclusion that researchers have drawn from the Terman study’s data is: having a high IQ is helpful, but it’s no guarantee of happiness or success. Moreover, more recent studies have shown that IQ is just one element of many that contribute to our life’s path. The idea that a high IQ is a guarantee that someone will accomplish great things has been compared to saying that someone who is seven feet tall will be a great basketball player. On that theory, Robert Wadlow, who was the tallest human in history (8 feet 11 inches) could have been the greatest basketball player ever. Except he could not run.

A high IQ, like extraordinary height, provides the potential for greatness. But so many other skills, attributes and behaviors are necessary to take, what is in essence, tremendous horsepower, and harness it for its greatest use. And for some people with high IQs, their lives play out like having a high-powered engine in a small car with an unskilled driver: a total wreck. If you don’t believe that, read about Ted Kaczynski.

Recent studies show that what psychologists call “highly-intelligent” people, as opposed to “smart,” have a range of attributes that demonstrate strong mental, as well as social and emotional, capabilities. The importance of emotional intelligence and self-awareness, for example, are vital to an individual’s ability to navigate and grow in a career.

These findings are important for us as business leaders and managers as the majority of people are, mathematically, of what the IQ test deems “average” intelligence. And our cultural obsession with high numbers, as well how our educational systems measure students, has caused those with an “average” IQ to perceive that as a handicap or deficiency, asking themselves, “Can I do that? Am I smart enough?”

Yes, we are all “smart enough.” The fact that you chose to read this article, for example, demonstrates a robust sense of curiosity, the single greatest indicator of high intelligence. The number of highly-intelligent people in the world is far greater than the number of “geniuses,” and the attributes, talents and abilities of highly-intelligent people are vastly wider than just being considered “smart” because of a test score.

We are all “gifted” people in some way, for example, in social, spatial or manual skills, artistic vision or athleticism, to name a few. To recognize the many gifts of our people, our colleagues, and ourselves, builds self-confidence in what we can accomplish, leveraging the sum total of our abilities, and not focusing on a single number.