<p>this is a pretty interesting discussion…just to throw in my two cents.</p>
<p>I think there are many fields where you can only achieve massive success by having both innate ability and a strong work ethich (and obviously a little luck) - namely sports, music, academics, etc. </p>
<p>That said, in most professional fields such as business and law* I think that innate intelligence only takes you so far. I firmly believe that, as was quoted in the article, as long of hit a certain level of intelligence (120 IQ or whatever they quoted) having additional IQ doesn’t translate to more success. Success in most professional fields comes from a combination of having this baseline intelligence, plus a strong work ethic, a high EQ (social / people skills), and a strong network, etc. If I remember correctly from the book “The Millionaire Mind” the average multi-millionaire had an average SAT score of ~1280 / 1600 but most where able to succeed because they had these other factors. </p>
<p>*I did not include the world of academics as I think that here the intelligence quotient, in addition to hard work, definitely plays a role in your ability to be a successful researcher, innovator, etc.</p>