Possessing a high IQ is excellent, but confidence is really a much more potent trait in relation to success in the workplace as well as in life. Why is it that the smartest person you know and quite possibly the most successful person you already know are not always the same person? Given the emphasis based on IQ by society today you might believe that the smartest people in society would naturally be the most successful or the most powerful, but this might not be the case.
Albert Einstein had an IQ of 160. John F. Kennedy was 119 while Ronald Reagan boasted an IQ around 105. Hollywood celebrity James Woods has an IQ of 180. Howard Stern, 99. All incredibly successful people ranging from modestly intelligent to super genius. How do people of exceptionally normal, or less than normal intelligence have the ability to achieve so much and in many cases outperform much smarter individuals? There are a variety of factors that contribute to this outcome nevertheless the most important is confidence.
Here Is Why Confidence Will Always Beat IQ
In The Classroom, Confidence Is King
In a study conducted at Goldsmiths University in London, psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic led a team of researchers in finding that kids with high intellectual confidence tended to acquire the best marks in school regardless of the differences in their individual intelligence or environmental circumstances.
These findings demonstrate a direct correlation regarding the confidence one has in one’s self as well as the capability to perform at a higher level and, most importantly, that this capability to perform at a high level exists independent of one’s intelligence or environment. That’s huge. It means that believing in one’s self is really as important (possibly more) as intelligence when it comes to high level performance.
“There has been a very, very big lobby within educational psychology against the notion of IQ,” notes Chamorro-Premuzic. “And part of this lobby has been based on the idea that self-perceptions matter more than actual ability.”
Everyone has that brilliant friend that never did anything with their life, who knows the response to every questions you may ask, can solve any riddle or puzzle you put in front of them yet can’t hold down a job. Conversely, there is that other friend who doesn’t have the answer to anything yet seems to flourish in everything they do, no matter how ill prepared they’re to accomplish it. It’s actually not luck, it’s not coincidence. The secret ingredient is confidence.
Confidence Enables Intelligence To Work
There is more than one kind of intelligence, and the significance of the differing types is beginning to come into focus among the scientific community. Apart from IQ (Intelligence Quotient) you have many other kinds of intelligence such as an EQ (Emotional Quotient), a MQ (Moral Quotient) as well as a BQ (Body Quotient) that all play a role in your ability to function as a whole.
Much as it sounds, each quotient measures an individual’s capacity to process certain kinds of information and ultimately act upon it. To assume that in a given workday the only set of skills an individual will have tested is their capability to solve rubik’s cubes or properly navigate word association puzzles is naive. The ability to read nonverbal communication, to project and detect empathy or disappointment, comprehending the difference between right and wrong are all vitally important to person’s success.
Problems and obstacles are part your everyday life as a working person. Far more so if you’re the only one in charge. Most of the time, there will be more than one answer to the challenge in front of you and you will have to evaluate the pros and cons of each potential solution.
Is the fastest, most efficient way always the best way? Is the most profitable solution the right one if it damages relationships?
In work and life you will have to make choices similar to this all the time and the strictly rational, intelligence based solution will not likely always be the right one. Often you will have to listen to your gut, or allow your conscience to guide you which could produce vastly different results that if you had gone the path of hard rationality. Having confidence in yourself and your instincts is vital in growing as a person and a professional. Confidence is strength and it’ll allow you to make the tough or unpopular when necessary.
Confidence Is Not Arrogance
There is a significant difference between a person who believes in herself and someone who is arrogant. Arrogance is often a strongly held belief that you’ve already got everything you need. Real confidence is understanding your strengths and believing in your abilities, but in addition acknowledging your weaknesses. Confidence is an eagerness to understand and accept help when it’s needed because you know that it is going to only make you stronger. Being an employer, this is exactly what we consider when searching for an employee.
Someone who works hard and is determined to solve problems, who is not afraid to ask for help and who wants to constantly improve is definitely the kind of person that can write his or her ticket. They will never have trouble holding a job or finding new opportunities. Employers are continually searching for this type of individual and when we find them we snatch them up as quickly as you possibly can, and do whatever we can to keep them.
Confidence is believing in yourself. Always having the right answer isn’t as significant as committing to finishing something. Knowing how to do everything isn’t as valuable as a willingness to learn along with a belief that you can. Confidence is a big part of why people of modest intelligence is capable of just as much as brilliant people. An amazingly high IQ can certainly help you visualize complex math problems in 11 dimensions, but it’s not an indicator that you’re going to buckle down and make things happen as soon as the going gets tough.
An individual’s ability to be successful is more reliant on their work ethic and their belief in his/her self than their intelligence. A person who believes that they can achieve a result, regardless of how difficult it will be, given that they understand the importance of hard work and commitment is virtually unstoppable.
These are the different types of people who succeed at everything they do and do not be surprised when you eventually see them occupying the big chair.