I don't like to write about intelligence. It is one of those topics that for some reason seems taboo. My experience has been that people get angry, defensive, and critical when I bring it up. But I want to break my own rules today and talk about it because I read this article about career advice for geniuses and began reflecting on my own unfulfilling work history. I began to wonder if many of you read this blog because you view the world much like I do. Many of you are probably quite intelligent and as such have lived through a series of similarly unfulfilling jobs. I hope you reach the end of this post and feel a sigh of relief, knowing that you aren't the only one that has this struggle.
The post is divided into three parts. First, my own history and experience. Secondly, why I think intelligence can be a curse at work, and why companies don't embrace the best and brightest. Thirdly, what you can do if you are an intelligent but unfulfilled employee and what to do if you are a manager that needs to engage a highly intelligent individual.
I will say upfront that entrepreneurship may be an excellent path for highly intelligent people interested in business, because it requires analysis and decision making on many different levels with different time frames and different problem domains - everything a genius really wants.
1. My Experience
I should have known something was wrong with me in the sixth grade when, given the chance to present a topic to the class, I chose "Atoms and Molecules." Most other students chose celebrities, sports figures, or historical events. I mixed vinegar and baking soda and listened to the class laugh as it overflowed my jug and soak the surrounding carpet. I was always in the advanced classes and went on to a high school for smart kids and did well but was more interested in girls and basketball during this period of my life. Otherwise I could have applied myself much more.
I went to college and majored in Electrical Engineering, but I often found the classes boring. I remember sitting in the back of my Electromagnetics class and reading a book on Fuzzy Logic because I found it more interesting and the college didn't have a course in it. As a senior, I took an ASIC design course and missed a key lecture on how to draw various transistor implementations of logic gates. It was an important component of the course, so I had to learn it on my own for the exam. A bonus problem on the exam was some sort of funky logic equation that we had to implement in as few transistors as possible. I was the only person in the class to get it right, and I even beat the implementation of the professor. Since I learned it on my own I had developed a different way of thinking about these problems, and he was so impressed he offered me a scholarship to grad school to come work in his lab. This was the late 90s though, and tech was lucrative so I wasn't going to give up good money for more schooling.
During my college years I also managed a restaurant that had lost money for three years and had it's first profitable quarter about six months after I came on board. I started to think that maybe I had unconventional ideas because I was smart, and not because I was crazy.
I started my professional work career and found that I had problems. I loved to tackle new things, unique problems, and I loved to debug hardware. But I hated doing many of the tasks that seemed to be part of the job. I didn't relate well to others when it came to unspoken expectations. If I was given lots of leeway in how to do something it was almost certain to turn out in a way that my manager did not anticipate. It seemed that I never had the same set of assumptions about a problem as anyone else.
I did some excellent things and I flopped on some things. Whether I was a good or bad employee depended on who you talked to. I didn't deal well with the structure. The career path was pretty much the same for everybody and I didn't have the chance to pursue projects that I found interesting. I was just given stuff that managers thought I should be doing based on my experience level and were the internal openings were.
After awhile I finally went to see a psychologist. I told him I thought I had problems because my worldview seemed to be so dramatically different than everyone else I knew. He suggested I take an intelligence test, which is how I ended up in MENSA. For the first time in a long time, I breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't fix anything, but it did give me some external verification that helped me deal with everything.
Throughout my career, I have felt, and still feel, like I could contribute so much more if given the chance. I feel like I live in a world where everyone expects things to work a certain way but to me the rules seem arbitrary and in some ways that makes it much more difficult to fit in. I have not had a normal career path, and by and large this is seen as a negative rather than a positive. I'm not sure where I will end up, but I keep looking for that job where I get paid to work on really hard really unique problems.
The irony in the fact that I am usually bored with my jobs is that I really love to work. My hobbies usually consist of side projects and businesses that are fun and challenging. My parents joke that the things I do for fun are things most people consider work. That is the love/hate relationship I am talking about. I love to do things. I love to think, analyze, discuss, debate, research, build, debug, etc. When I get home from work, I blog, I work logic puzzles, I study Chinese, I read (mostly non-fiction and lots of textbooks). I don't like to do things that don't require my brain to be engaged. But I end up hating most jobs because it seems that companies try to take all the thinking out of the work - probably because most people don't like it.
The one deviation was my first major foray into entrepreneurship. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of it all but, for various reasons, eventually sold my stake to my business partner.
2. Intelligence as a curse at work.
Out of all the possible tests you could give someone, the single best predictor of on the job success is raw intelligence. If you don't believe me, look it up. The problem is that even intelligence only has a weak correlation with job success (which means that we are really not very good at predicting who will be successful in what positions, without spending a lot of time and money looking at many different components of the person and the job). Add to that the fact that even intelligent people are frequently wrong (though statistically they may fare better than others), and you see why the value in hiring really smart people might not be readily evident to most companies.
Intelligent people often understand counterintuitive ideas that don't make sense to others. They often see complex interactions between things that others don't see or understand. On average, they are quicker to change views and less tied to a specific ideology. This is a big problem in the workplace because most everyone has their pet theories that they hold dear. Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Myers-Briggs disciples, Predictive Index disciples, and on and on… people believe many things that they will never let go of, regardless of the evidence. Intelligent people just don't care as much about ideologies and the idols and gurus that promote them as others do.
Just last week during coffee with some friends, one guy turned to the other and said "if there is anyone you admire don't tell Rob about it. He'll boot them right off of the pedestal." It's not that I do it intentionally, I just like to present a balanced view of an issue which often surprises people who haven't been exposed to the full story about something.
Intelligent people tend to be ambivalent about a broad number of topics. While this stems from being informed and having a good understanding of the complexity of most situations, it is often seen in the workplace as being wishy-washy. That doesn't help careers in an age where decisive inspirational leaders are worshipped by the business media. (Keep in mind as I go through these that I'm not speaking in absolutes about intelligence. There are smart people that are charismatic and decisive, but by and large they aren't.)
Intelligent people can master many domains, and they can do it quickly. If you go to a MENSA meeting, you will meet many people that don't stick to one thing very long. In part it is because most workplaces won't advance them quickly enough to keep up with the pace of their learning. It's part of the problem with school too. I don't usually need a 16 week course to learn something. I need a faster pace.
I read job postings all the time that sound fun and interesting but I know I don't have a shot because I don't have "7 years experience" in whatever. Yet at the same time I have worked with people that are shocked at how quickly I came up to speed on something. Career changes for smart people often stem from connections with people that realize their potential.
Intelligent people often have many interests, and they go through them quickly because once they have learned about a domain, it loses its allure. This often gets them lumped with "flighty" people that can't stick with anything, even though what really happens is that smart people don't need a ten year career in something before they realize they don't like it. They figure it out quickly and move on. They like to learn new things, but tend to have long-term careers in areas that are complex and rapidly changing. I think the reason business and neuroscience are two fields that have continued to fascinate me for years is that they are both so complex and multi-disciplinary. There is so much to learn, and there are macro and micro problems within many sub-disciplines of these fields.
3. What to do if you are an employer or employee.
If you are highly intelligent, I would encourage you to apply for MENSA. Their meetings are one of the few places you can go and speak your mind without getting strange looks. If you read lots of non-fiction and you always wonders who else is buying those books, you will find some kindred spirits there. But keep in mind it is a social club for smart people, and many of the events consist of smart people drinking and eating junk food while rapidly changing discussion topics.
I would also encourage you to seek work in a multidisciplinary and/or entrepreneurial environment. Jobs that don't have a standard career path are much easier to obtain. By contrast, if you suddenly find managerial accounting to be interesting, you are out of luck. You better go get an accounting degree, a CMA license, and start in an entry level position. (Or like a former professor of mine with a PhD in biochemistry, you could go back and get an accounting PhD, but then most companies will consider you overqualified.)
If you are stuck in a position and you think people just don't get you, there are a few options. The best is probably to figure out how you can contribute to some side project. It is risky to come out of the blue with some sort of new report/analysis/software/etc, that no one asked you to do, but there is always the chance that it could be a big hit and people will start to understand what you are capable of. I wish I had done more of this early in my career. Your next best bet is probably to try to make games out of your work. Sometimes I take long tasks and see if I can complete them in a 30 minute window. It helps me focus and gives me a challenge. Your other option is to keep your eyes open for unique opportunities. There are people out there that care more about your ideas and your ability to learn than about what you have done in the past. There are people that will tailor jobs to individuals instead of individuals to jobs. Target small businesses instead of large companies. They are more likely to appreciate your flexibility. Keep in mind though, that there are lots of flighty, unfocused, inexperienced people that want good jobs too and think they deserve them, and that most employers fear they are getting that type of person, not someone with unusual intellect.
If you are an employer, keep an eye out for people that seem to consistently have unique perspectives. People often think high intelligence means "has memorized more facts," but that isn't it at all. It has to do with the way someone thinks, not necessarily what they know. Highly intelligent people have the ability to filter information rapidly to get to the crux of an idea. You can tell this because they ask good questions - questions that show they understand the idea and are testing its limits and applicable contexts. Watch for this.
Also remember that highly intelligent people still make mistakes. Be tolerant of that. Michael Jordan missed a lot of shots during his career with the Bulls, but you still wanted the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Nothing is worse than being expected to know everything because "you're supposed to be a genius."
Give your best and brightest some flexibility. When that bright programmer wants to move into business development, it might be best to give him or her a shot. Not everyone is successful at transitioning domains, but intelligent people will usually rise to the challenge, and you will be amazed at how much they will learn in a few months.
I could go on and on but this post is already longer than I intended. The last thing I will say is that employers and employees need to remember that intelligence is just one component of success. Undisciplined intelligence is wasteful because intelligence needs to be directed at a problem. Many very smart people can't focus long enough to solve something. But if you can harness the power of a highly intelligent employee, you will undoubtedly appreciate his/her fantastic contributions.
I encourage you to check out , if you want more on this topic. Search through Mark's archives too, he has written a lot about education and intelligence.
Check it out: The Ten Worst Job Interview Questions Ever
I did well on a Mensa test in Reader’s Digest very many years ago but never followed up… perhaps I should. One sees one’s self in some sections of your article, thanks.
Interesting comments. I have had a similar experience… and so out of curiosity, do you know what your Meyers-Briggs personality type is? I would just be interested to know because for a long time I struggled with fulfillment until I found out that I’m an INTP (and somewhat ENTP)… It was spot on and has really helped me understand and have peace about my work… just curious what correlation there is…
Like the previous comment I found Meyers Briggs helpful in explaining my work experiences to date (INTJ). Side projects are definitley the best way I have found to keep myself interested - I blog and I’m doing a part-time MBA.
Hey Rob,
I found your site via a different blog and after reading this post I’ll be coming more often; great article.
It’s so true - speaking from experience, some managers frown upon initiative. They may feel challenged that the employee is trying to take over their spot and due to this feeling the manager reacts angrily. In other instances where the employee expresses and shows interest in a topic and tries to contribute useful and knowledgeable information, they are looked down upon.
Keep them coming.
Wouldnt an intelligent person recognize they were not in the right environment layout the steps to change the environment and take actions to make those steps become reality? Or is that a motivated person? Intelligent people can see how its all done and so no use in doing it? I dont think that is how reality works. I have thought I was so intelligent so many times until reality showed me I was not. Maybe thats the problem Rob is you have been intelligent but not motivated. Or maybe not intelligent enough to find something that motivates you. Thats what seems to be my problem.
“in our society it’s rude to act like you are smarter than someone else”..is this really specific to our society? My perception is that many other societies are *much* more focused on “fitting in” than we are.
David,
That’s a good point. It reminds me of this poster.
http://www.despair.com/connot.html
Good article. Your career experiences sound a lot like mine.
A smart person might suspect that Myers-Briggs (et al.) are more hokum than science. For some good background on so-called personality tests and the MBTI see Malcom Gladwell’s article from the Sept. 20, 2004 “New Yorker” at:
http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_09_20_a_personality.html
I’ve noticed that another dependable measure of high intelligence is one’s ability to write well. In my experience, people who have a mastery of natural language are always highly intelligent. Your blog post above is a great example, nicely done.
I still dont understand how you know you are intelligent if you cant put the knowledge and insight into a tangible result. Being afraid that you might not be able use your knowledge, experience and understanding of complexity if you fully commited yourself I think hinders a lot of people. Having the self esteem to realize that you may not be as intelligent as you want to think you are and you may have to figure out a new way that has never been done before then test that new way in reality and be totally wrong, That is intelligence.
To me intelligence is similar to potential it means nothing until its realized. Maybe the realization of intelligence in tangible results will bring more fufillment then the self satisfaction of not being able to clearly communicate with others and chalking that up to being smarter.
Would you rather read a neuroscience book or contribute/write a neuroscience book that revolutionized the understanding of the subject?
Smart is not the same as talented, or being good at something. Even not-so-smart people can be really good at things they practice at. See this article (by the authors of “Freakonomics”) about talent and “deliberate practice” from the NY Times:
http://tinyurl.com/hwh7y
If anyone can point me to evidence that Myers-Briggs “types” are any more real or predictive than astrological signs or palm creases, I’d like to see them. Neuroscience and Myers-Briggs discussed in the same paragraph? I’m surprised so many self-professed smart people throw around their MBTI as if it actually means something. I forgot my MBTI ten minutes after taking the test (a previous employer believed in them), but I’m a Scorpio if that helps understand my personality.
After reading these comments, I realised why I hate to think of myself as “intelligent”. It just sounds so damn obnoxious. That being said, I can very much relate to the experiences that you’ve described above.
However, I have realised that it doesnt help to think of your self as “intelligent” (as you have throught your article) because it just makes you think low of others.
The most useful way to realise your unique abilities and to apply them positively is to think of them as “super-powers”. I know it sounds corny but this really works.
Eg: When given n different pieces of information about a problem I can usually correlate one to another faster than anyone else I know. For some reason I can notice patterns much faster than others. One of my colleagues is a much slower thinker. However he has his own super power. He is absolutely thorough. Recently I was made a manager asked if I wanted to move this colleague to another group. I realised that because he makes up for my deficiencies that he would be an absolute boon to my group and thus asked for him to stay on our group. This has really helped our team.
You need to realise that intelligence is just one specific type of super power. But other people , ie the, “technically-dumb” have their own special super powers. I know a guy who was awarded a phd scolarship to a presitgious university all through his personality and talk. The guy is technically an idiot but it never stopped him :), as he had another “super-power” which could help him get what he wanted.
If you think of the world as a place with lots of people with many different super powers its much easier to fit in and get along and get things done and be successful.
Smarts and intelligience in business is not a predictor of success. IMHO, perseverence (hard work) and critical thinking skills is more important.
Smarts and intelligience in business is not a predictor of success. IMHO, perseverence (hard work) and critical thinking skills are more important.
I found you article very lucid, extremely interesting and thought provoking. I experienced many “aha” moments, as it helped me remember (although i’m not a genius) some of the experiences that helped me to decide to stop working for others and set up my own business. I am a little surprised, that given your interest in neuroscience, you don’t consider the notion of multiple intelligences. I would really like to see the evidence that you leads you to believe that raw intelligence is the best indicator of job success. The field that I am in (emotional intelligence) argues that emotional intelligence is a stronger predictor of outstanding performance than IQ or technical skills.
And another thing… I cant stand monotony and having to move at other peoples pace. At work a lot of people say ‘well no jobs perfect and you have to do the jobs you dont like sometimes’. What people dont get is that saying that to me is like telling a manic depressive to ‘cheer up’. I Physically cant handle monotony. Sitting in a class being talked at is my idea of hell. At school you just get used to it because you could just switch off. At university I was also able to switch off. When I was in the Army I started getting really anxious in lectures. I would be sitting there, having been told that my job as an Officer was really important, I had to train myself for leadership, understand concepts of mission command and modern weapons. And I would be sat in a classrom being talked at about something completely irrelevant to my actual future job. I had a Commanding Officer, he had a favourite quote (Patton I think)’your job is to train for war, everything else is bullshit’. Great quote. Why then did the CO rate dinner evenings above training? Madness. I find it physically hard to work in these kind of situations.
Why did I discover this article now only? Agree totally, I worked in a coorporate company , sales department and many things they did has nothing to do with intelligence what-so-ever, and the route of promotion has nothing to do with sales results, intelligence or hardwork but how well you can talk things the way they want it and how well you massage their ego.
Wow man, you have just echoed something I have felt for many years. When I was younger, I thought everyone was like me, because “me” was all I knew. When others did not keep up it felt strange, and for most of my life I felt as if I have never belonged, as if I was not made for this world. Then people, who “understand” me, would be intolerant when I made mistakes. Your sentence on that is awesome, just point-blank. Just because I am smart, I still am wrong sometimes. People don’t have to get on me about that every time. Well, one of my fears has been re-confirmed; I will always be strangely different. I believe, to this day, I could have graduated from college and have a steady job right now.
-Jacob, Age 14
Love the article, I can definitely relate. I am 23 and recently joined MENSA. I have bounced around from job to job and my current one encourages me to develop new ideas and applications, but offers no reward. They won’t even hire me from the employment agency that placed me, though they will give me increasingly difficult side projects to help them succeed. It is very frustrating and I am looking for that job that both challenges and rewards me.
The true key to fulfillment is not found in any business venture, job promotion or career move. All this is just chasing after the wind. If you want true fulfillment, just visit unfulfilled.org and you will find all the answers you can possibly find to being truly fulfilled.
To the person who compared the Myers-Briggs to astrology: Many studies over the years have proven the validity of the MBTI instrument in three categories: (1) the validity of the four separate preference scales; (2) the validity of the four preference pairs as dichotomies; and (3) the validity of whole types or particular combinations of preferences. Many of these studies are discussed in the MBTI® Manual (Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc., 1998). http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/reliability-and-validity.asp
I have an IQ of 146, according to the Stanford-Binet test. I’d gladly trade 20 points of that for some creativity and motivation.
I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed this article. This year I began to study English Linguistics, so my english maybe is not very suitable for this kind of article. However, I noticed how some of this problems you mentioned are not only limited to smart people. I’m refering on the lack of motivation of society in general, and how this doesn’t allow them to take advantage of their capacities. I always had problems to work, think and live for this reasons with my school and now, my university companions. And I am an ordinary girl in terms of intelligence, so I can’t imagine what you went trough. -Argentinian girl living in Spain (18)
Thank you. This blog confirmed many thoughts I have.
This is a great article and reflects my own life experiences so very closely. I have the additional hazard of being a bit manic with intermittent periods of super high performance and productivity. This means that with each new job, my talents and cheerfulness soon attract almost every task in the office to my desk. People don’t know the price I pay for this pace and I usually sleep whenever I am not working. After about a year I am totally fed up and usually move on.
I even took my Mechanical Engineering degree to the point of gaining a Professional License. When I took the PE test, I was the first one finished in the morning seesion and about the 4th to finish in the afternoon session. The problem is that I am constantly more interested in other things and I find that Mechanical Engineering is very boring.
Anything new I become interested in sucks up all my attention and garners almost superhuman concentration. Once I give it a good once through, then I am pretty much done with it. And then I hit the net looking for a new interest.
Now, I am in my high 40’s and soul searching everyday for answers. This little blog entry has given me hope, and I hope I can find more like it. I have been qualified for Mensa for over 20 years due to a high GRE score and I will now consider seriously joining the organization.
Thanks for taking the time to write your thoughts on the subject.
Great article, I stumbled upon it on a completely unrelated Google search.
One other possibility is the manager or small business owner who recognizes your potential and tries to capitalize on it for themselves. I had to deal with that for years before I finally struck out on my own.
I am so much happier now, I fix computers, design websites, wire houses (Sometimes it is nice to not have to think) and offices, and keep a very diverse skillset. I have learned how to work a 20 hour week and make enough money to live on.
I just love to learn, and once I do I get bored of the subject.
I do not think I am any more special than others, I just think differently, and it is sometimes a very lonely existence.
My wife tells me that I have my “obsessions” I will get completely immersed in a subject for months and then suddenly I abandon it completely.
Like Bryan I constantly soul search, I have no idea what my scores are and whether I would qualify for MENSA, lately I just want to understand this elusive thing called happiness.
Thank you again for the article.
Hey Guys,
I think you can simply start learning emotional intelligence and simply apply the analytical and decision intelligence on people. You will be able to achieve great success with people the same way you are able to achieve it in logic and learning. I am the same way and just realized I can apply this to people and this is much m ore devine than logic only. People are included in what we analyze, calculate and decide.