Leadership Versus Intelligence

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KiwiBird

USAFA Cadet, Co 2025
Joined
Oct 8, 2020
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287
Exploring the internet, I stumbled upon a somewhat concerning subject. Apparently, in some cases, too high of an IQ gap between a leader and her followers will result in ineffective leadership. Linked below are three pertinent articles:

https://www.businessinsider.com/bei...ight-actually-make-you-a-worse-leader-2017-11
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-14279-001
https://blog.gembaacademy.com/2018/01/29/the-seven-losses-of-high-iq-leadership/

Have any of you experienced the negative consequences of a gap like this? If so, how did you overcome the associated difficulties? This is not something I had considered before, so I would really appreciate any applicable advice.

Please also note that I am not posting this to disparage any certain group of people. In most groups of a sufficiently large size, there will be someone smarter than me or any SA graduate. I also recognize that in those same groups, there will be people whose intelligence is at a level that will create the difficulties noted above. I also tend to believe that personality traits even out somewhere. Someone who is terrible at sports might excel at art instead, for example. So please do not interpret this as a negative thing, I just want to try to be the best leader that I can be, and I firmly believe that receiving advice on this will help with that.
 
I fully expect @Capt MJ to swoop in and knock this one out of the park, but let me offer you some practical experience.

As important as an IQ gap is the cultural/experiential gap. Preventing that gap from negatively affected the team or an individual on the team is the essence of good leadership. Many years ago, I read a quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau (I can't remember which) and I can't exactly remember it exactly, but it went something like this: "As I've gone through life I have never met a man who wasn't my better at something." I read that too late in life, but constantly pounded that into my sons' heads.

I learned many lessons on summer jobs during High School and College. I worked construction as did many of my friends. In almost all cases, I was the from the wealthiest family, the only college kid, the only person to have travelled beyond a 100 mile radius. Most important, I was the lowest man on the totem pole. I learned a lot about listening to and respecting other people.

My older DS, AD AROTC O-3, struggled with the IQ gap all the way through High School. the situation exacerbated by being a late bloomer physically and fiercely competitive. If someone could run faster, well he was smarter. He didn't start to get over it until he went to college and answered to Cadre. More often than not these were enlisted guys just back from an Iraq/Afghanistan deployment who couldn't care less about my son's academic skills and life experience.

Having watched him develop his leadership skills from zero to where he is now I would make these observations:

-Rather than being eager to show off his brains/skills/talents, he would offer them up as the need arose.
-He developed into a resource to be tapped, rather than a firehose to avoid.
-His goal became to leave the other person with something of value that they didn't have before.
-He asked questions which would give the other person that same satisfaction of being respected and appreciated.

The bottomline for me is one should get out of their comfort zone.

Best of Luck!
 
Performance, performance, performance, in the role is what counts. The best leaders I know had sufficient brains to understand what they needed to, the wisdom to know when they needed help, and a high degree of emotional intelligence which helped create a bond of mutual trust and respect with peers, subordinates and seniors, creating an atmosphere where human being willingly did what was needful and right.

I know/knew plenty of book-smart people, high IQ likely, brilliant people to whom everything came easily. Some were great leaders, some were good, some average, some dreadful. Much depended on the totality of their toolkit and all the other traits they had. Being able to spare a thought for those who struggle and not get impatient with those less gifted in certain ways, being adaptive and patient - now that’s the mark of a good leader.

Hubris is indeed contra-indicative of good leadership, and it can pop up anywhere.
 
Capt MJ said:
Hubris is indeed contra-indicative of good leadership, and it can pop up anywhere.
Click to expand...

Boy ain't that the truth!

Intelligence, emotional intelligence, life experience, empathy, sense of purpose, and mission focus all need to come together to be a good leader. I have seen plenty of "smart" people who are terrible leaders. Also, plenty of "dumb" people who were natural leaders.

When I went into the Marines, the majority of Enlisted personnel did not have high school diplomas or GED's. Today's Marines all have HS degrees and possibly some college courses under their belts. Many have a bucket load of life experiences an incoming Officer can't imagine.

KiwiBird said:
I just want to try to be the best leader that I can be
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I recommend you study the Marine Leadership Traits and Leadership principles. Here are the 11 Leadership Principles:

The 11 Marine Corps Leadership Principles (MCTP 6-10B, Appendix B) are:
  1. Know yourself and seek self-improvement
  2. Be technically and tactically proficient
  3. Know your Marines and look out for their welfare
  4. Keep your Marines informed
  5. Set the example
  6. Ensure the task is understood, supervised, and accomplished
  7. Train your Marines as a team
  8. Make sound and timely decisions
  9. Develop a sense of responsibility among your subordinates
  10. Employ your command in accordance with its capabilities
  11. Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions
 
There are PLENTY of super-intelligent people who have ZERO common sense. And, in my experience, there is no correlation between good "people skills" and high intelligence. Someone with only average intelligence, but great peoples skills can learn the principles of how to be a great leader and would - - IMHO - - make a better leader than a super-intelligent introvert. Finally, some personality types don't make good leaders and it doesn't have to do with intelligence. So, in summation. Some super-intelligent people are also great leaders and some are HORRIBLE leaders. Same goes for people of average intelligence.
 
Let’s not forget those who are fond of a nice, heart-warming humble-brag.

None of us are perfect - as leaders, as humans. It’s when we don’t own that fact and have a sense of humor about our flaws, cracks and feet of clay, is when hubris starts to slither into the mix. Feet of clay can easily extend upward to the patella and higher.
 
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KiwiBird said:
Exploring the internet, I stumbled upon a somewhat concerning subject. Apparently, in some cases, too high of an IQ gap between a leader and her followers will result in ineffective leadership. Linked below are three pertinent articles:

https://www.businessinsider.com/bei...ight-actually-make-you-a-worse-leader-2017-11
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-14279-001
https://blog.gembaacademy.com/2018/01/29/the-seven-losses-of-high-iq-leadership/

Have any of you experienced the negative consequences of a gap like this? If so, how did you overcome the associated difficulties? This is not something I had considered before, so I would really appreciate any applicable advice.

Please also note that I am not posting this to disparage any certain group of people. In most groups of a sufficiently large size, there will be someone smarter than me or any SA graduate. I also recognize that in those same groups, there will be people whose intelligence is at a level that will create the difficulties noted above. I also tend to believe that personality traits even out somewhere. Someone who is terrible at sports might excel at art instead, for example. So please do not interpret this as a negative thing, I just want to try to be the best leader that I can be, and I firmly believe that receiving advice on this will help with that.
Click to expand...
In the military, your folks will be very aware of the difference in rank between you and them and I found it important to show respect for what they brought to the group. Many/most will have gone through some level of advanced training that you did not get and showing that you respect that is a way to do this. Petty Officer *&^*&^, what do you think is wrong with it? Can I pass you a tool or hold a light so you can see better? Early in my tour on one ship, we had a major piece of equipment not working and all of my people were troubleshooting. I held one of the probes so that an E3 could "ring out" a cable so that I could help in even a small way and that paid a lot of dividends for me. I also organized coffee for them all at 2 AM (out of the wardroom no less) which was greatly appreciated. I did this because I knew that I could not succeed alone and needed all of their best efforts to keep everything working.
 
OldRetSWO said:
In the military, your folks will be very aware of the difference in rank between you and them and I found it important to show respect for what they brought to the group. Many/most will have gone through some level of advanced training that you did not get and showing that you respect that is a way to do this. Petty Officer *&^*&^, what do you think is wrong with it? Can I pass you a tool or hold a light so you can see better? Early in my tour on one ship, we had a major piece of equipment not working and all of my people were troubleshooting. I held one of the probes so that an E3 could "ring out" a cable so that I could help in even a small way and that paid a lot of dividends for me. I also organized coffee for them all at 2 AM (out of the wardroom no less) which was greatly appreciated. I did this because I knew that I could not succeed alone and needed all of their best efforts to keep everything working.
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Yes, yes and yes.
 
NJROTC-CC said:
There are PLENTY of super-intelligent people who have ZERO common sense. And, in my experience, there is no correlation between good "people skills" and high intelligence. Someone with only average intelligence, but great peoples skills can learn the principles of how to be a great leader and would - - IMHO - - make a better leader than a super-intelligent introvert. Finally, some personality types don't make good leaders and it doesn't have to do with intelligence. So, in summation. Some super-intelligent people are also great leaders and some are HORRIBLE leaders. Same goes for people of average intelligence.
Click to expand...
I agree that someone with average intelligence and great people skills will likely make a better leader than a super-intelligent person with poor people skills. Where I would disagree however is correlating introversion with poor people skills. Some introverts have fantastic people skills just as some extroverts have terrible people skills.
 
I test introvert, but can easily put on the game face and “extro” with the best, as the situation demands. I just need some alone time to quietly re-charge and reflect without being “on.” It’s why I get up very early some days, go for a dawn walk, read quietly, let the dogs nap on my lap while I sip Tazo Zen tea.

I’ve also known quiet, soft-spoken leaders who were tremendously effective and well-respected. One of my top five COs was such a man. He was compelling, calm, radiated confidence in the team, was unfailingly considerate of the most junior team members, an excellent listener who took the time to coach by asking questions which helped me arrive at a solution myself. He showed me his computer monitor one day. He had many well-worn sticky notes there, which he said traveled with every computer he’d had for years. Examples: “Have I praised as much as criticized today?” “Who else needs to know this?” “What have I done today to make this a place where my people can do their best work?”
 
Capt MJ said:
an excellent listener who took the time to coach by asking questions which helped me arrive at a solution myself.
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I love the old Socratic method.

What a great thread this is. Thanks OP.
 
One of the most gratifying comments I received was after came from a E-5 Yeoman that worked directly for the Commanding Officer. We had plenty of interaction during my Squadron Department Head tour. On my departure she said, “Mr. Door, thank you. You always treated me like I knew something.”
 
I just operate under the assumption my soldiers are smarter than me and it gets rid of this as an issue for me. My job tends to be to figure out how to get out of their way while they problem solve whatever challenge we need solved while providing them the resources to do so and know enough about our general operations to call BS if someone is trying to pull a fast one.
 
High IQ is never a bad thing, but it does have its limitations when it comes to leadership. If your job is to truly lead, then it’s imperative that you create an environment for your team to blossom and thrive. That means you can’t be the person who always comes up with the solution or always pokes holes in others’ solutions. It means that you need to help others, at times, feel like they’re the smartest person in the room. And it means recognizing that someone else — not you — may in fact be the smartest person in the room, and that you need to nurture that asset.

So at that point, it’s really EQ that comes into play. As research has shown, the higher one goes in any hierarchy, the more important EQ is and the less important IQ is. At lower levels, technical expertise is greatly valued. At higher levels, what’s greatly valued is the ability to set clear goals, devise effective strategies, deliver compelling messages, motivate underlings, hold them accountable and adjudicate conflict. Yes, this requires some technical expertise, but even more so it demands maturity, humbleness and empathy. EQ again, not IQ.
 
Sadly, I am fairly certain that common sense is not that common anymore.
 
Will McLean said:
one thing I learned real fast - there is a big difference between book smart and common sense. And going to a service academy doesn't automatically make you a great leader either.
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We had a nuke on one ship who was an absolutely brilliant engineer but his people skills IQ was below room temperature. He just could not "get" interactions with his sailors or others he interacted with aboard ship and he was well-known on the ship for it. Thankfully I never stood bridge or CIC watches with him as I expect a fairly high standard of performance as it is critical to lives and the ships mission.
 
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