![]() ![]() However, if you have high EQ and average IQ, you can succeed quite far in the business world.Īnother thing that I realize as I get older is that intelligence comes in many forms. If you have a high IQ, but are inept at reading political landscapes and/or poor at knowing how to project yourself in social situations, then you are unlikely to succeed in a big corporate environment, let alone a startup environment. In the real world, EQ is more valuable than IQ. Street smart people often rely on their intuitions to guide them. Book smart people strongly prefer to rely on data and complete information sets to make decisions. ![]() A high IQ might help in more academic business environments (like consulting or banking), but it is often not the determining factor for success as a startup employee or an entrepreneur. Of course, a person must have reasonable intelligence to succeed, but a high IQ can often be an obstacle to success in the real world. To succeed in this environment, a person needs to navigate successfully in an opaque world and make the right decisions. Politics, power, social dynamics, leadership abilities, professional networks, and social status play a big part in an individual’s ability to succeed in life. Often, there are unspoken rules in organizations. ![]() Have you chosen the right career? Have you chosen the right company? Have you chosen the right culture? Have you chosen the right department? Have you chosen the right mentors? Have you chosen the right allies? Have you chosen the right boss? Do you read political power structures clearly? Do you know how to navigate without clear information? Do you even know what you are good at? Do you learn the right lessons from every good, bad, and ugly experience? There is no clear structure (even within companies) and there is usually no clear path or reward system. In the real world, there are a million choices with information asymmetries everywhere and experiential learning is a key success factor. The real world does not operate that way. People who thrive under structure and clarity are best suited for academics. Structure is the key word for the academic environment. However, everything in the academic world is structured to be fair. (I know because I was terrible at subjects like chemistry and physics). Some subject matters are harder for others to understand. Of course, we are all born with different intelligence levels. Your social network inside a school does not translate into a higher GPA. EQ will not help you score higher on standardized tests. Politics will not get you a better test score or a better GPA. In many ways, the academic world is fair. Everyone starts out each year on the same level and is essentially guaranteed to pass to the next grade level if he/she puts in the effort. Every year is planned out for you in advance. Every day is planned out for you in advance. If you study hard and do your homework, you will do reasonably well. ![]() In the academic world, there is a clear structure, a timeline, a reward system, transparent rules, and equal information. It is because the real world and the academic world do not operate in the same way. There is one fundamental reason why I believe street smarts is more important than book smarts when it comes to succeeding in the real world. That being said, academics never came easily for me, and I never felt 100% comfortable in that environment even as a child. To be frank, graduate school was quite easy and I excelled because I genuinely loved everything about it. I really enjoyed it and somehow I learned concepts easiest in that field. In university, I did turn things around and excelled academically, but only because I chose economics as my major and decided to bust my ass off for it. In the academic environment, the key to success is learning through books and classes (instead of experiential learning in the real world). I only did reasonably well on them if I studied very hard, but often I took them without studying (because I was too busy playing sports or chasing girls). I was also not a natural at standardized tests. Most years, I had a 2.7 GPA (out of 4.0) or thereabouts. In fact, I was an average student most of my childhood. For the vast majority of my academic life, I was not a great student. (I would also say that the major driver of my success in life has been my street smarts, and not my book smarts). For me, I can tell you that my street smarts is stronger than my book smarts. More often than not, we are each blessed with one or the other. Of course, if you have both, then you can count yourself as one of the very lucky few in the world. I believe that street smarts is more important than book smarts when it comes to success in life. ![]()
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