The evidence is striking. One study of CEOs of large Swedish companies found that on average they ranked at the 83rd percentile of measured IQ (for CEOs of smaller companies, the rank was the 66th percentile). That’s above average, but it’s hardly a cluster at the top of the distribution. Many CEOs undoubtedly achieved their position through hard work, charisma, people skills and other abilities, not to mention luck.
In the broader distribution, the connection between IQ and income is also positive but underwhelming. One study concluded that moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile of IQ correlates with a 10% to 16% boost in earnings. That may feel significant when you get it, but it doesn’t push you into a whole new socioeconomic class.
The connection between IQ and achievement at the very highest tiers is in my view still an open question. Here are some recent results, in my view not yet confirmed as the correct overall point of view:
One recent study, also based on Swedish data, showed two results of significance. First, much of the intelligence-earnings correlation weakens significantly and plateaus above salaries of 60,000 euros a year. Second, and perhaps more surprising, people in the top 1% of earners had lower IQs than the earners immediately beneath them.
Why that is the case, it’s hard to say. But one possibility is that the very smartest people prefer a more balanced life rather than working all the time. Or perhaps they prefer occupations with higher status and somewhat lower pay. Money isn’t the only thing you can enjoy. Maybe having a lot of it can make it harder to trust potential friends or spouses.
This effect is striking once you start to really cavort with the wealthy and ultra-wealthy. Among the millionaires I know, not one of them comes close the raw analysis, recall, and synthesis capabilities of the four weirdos I met the one time I went to an Astral Codex Ten meetup. I think ultra high-iq tends to pull one towards dilettantism, whereas most wealthy and successful people comfortably devote themselves to developing a mundane, if profitable skill set from a young age. The exceptions come in the forms of Gates and Jobs type billionaires, for whom strange dilettantism lands them in the center of a cutting edge field that squares well with the production of monetizable product.
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