"If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?"

If you are like me, you may often be drawn to articles that talk about intelligence, and how it affects our daily lives. If you are like me, you may often wonder about the qualities that will help our children be most successful (in many ways) as they navigate life, and you think about how to instill these qualities in the children in your care. And, if you are like me, you may be skeptical about some of the things you read; conversely, you may also feel a certain affinity with the thoughts proposed by some. Finally, if you are like me, pondering these things occupies quite a bit of bandwidth in your mind as you search for ways to put the research to use with gifted kids and their families and educators...

So keeping all of this in mind, it was with great curiosity that I approached this article, If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? by Faye Flam in the Bloomberg Opinion on Economics. Basically the article asserts that “new research suggests that personality has a larger effect on success than IQ.” The article begins with the assertion that science doesn’t have a definitive answer (why IQ plays such a minor role in success), although luck certainly plays a role. But another key factor is personality, or personality traits, according to a paper that economist James Heckman co-authored in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Heckman found that “financial success was correlated with conscientiousness, a personality trait marked by diligence, perseverance and self-discipline.” Furthermore, the article explains, “The study found that grades and achievement-test results were markedly better predictors of adult success than raw IQ scores. That might seem surprising -- after all, don’t they all measure the same thing? Not quite. Grades reflect not just intelligence but also what Heckman calls ‘non-cognitive skills,’ such as perseverance, good study habits and the ability to collaborate -- in other words, conscientiousness. To a lesser extent, the same is true of test scores. Personality counts.”

Additionally, John Eric Humphries, the co-author of the paper, says, “he hoped their work could help clarify the complicated, often misunderstood notion of ability. Even IQ tests, which were designed to assess innate problem-solving capabilities, appear to measure more than just smarts.” He, too, attributes diligence and effort with success.

So what does this mean for those of us who live with and work with gifted kids? How do we recognize their intelligence, AND provide instruction and guidance that will ensure success? Here are some tips that I believe may aid us in this quest:

• Teach executive functioning skills and self-regulation skills early and often; children develop at different rates, and have differing needs during different stages of growth. Sometimes our gifted kids seem so grown up, and yet lack the skills which enhance  or ensure their success. Sometimes they develop asynchronously. Time spent on these skills will serve them well forever.
• Teach and practice good interpersonal skills - friendliness, kindness, compassion, and humility, among others...point out the benefits of good interpersonal skills, and their connection to success in life.
• Work to develop creative and critical thinking skills, decision-making skills, and problem solving skills; these will be utilized thoroughly over the years.
• Teach children to work through frustration, and to cope with stressors in positive ways.
• Foster confidence by giving children and adolescence tasks that are “just right” -- not too hard, and not too easy, but perhaps a stretch; teach them that failure is simply a First Attempt At Learning, and that we that we often learn as much (or more) from failure as we do from easy success
• Encourage and model collaborative skills.
• Value persistence, perseverance, and diligence; praise your child for the effort, not just the outcome or the innate ability. Help your child understand the links between input and outcome.

Above all, I’ve often thought that the biggest gift we can give our gifted kids is to encourage them to “do good life, not just good school.” The benefits of a good life are long lasting and deeply satisfying. 

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Together we grow.

Jacquelyn Drummer
Past President, WATG

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