聪慧：聪明人为何很少领先于人

Why do most smart people seldom get ahead?Eric Leow Yu Quan, studied at Raffles InstitutionThat's because society isn't looking out for them as much as you'd like to believe.I had a friend who was the epitome of intelligence: she did very well throughout her primary and secondary schools, and was often looked up to as the “class GPA goddess”. She had a permanent spot on the deans list, teachers adored her and pushed her to study more advanced classes. She wasn't complacent - no, in fact, she was charmingly humble and often felt inferior to her peers because she didn't believe she was actually that smart, always saying it was pure luck that led her to where she is.You'll think that such a smart person would go on to a prestigious school, take on a well-established university degree and aspire to become a revered doctor or lawyer. But it turned out, unfortunately, that she had a severe sense of inferiority and never believed she would do well in life. This lack of confidence, otherwise known as the Jonah complex, led her to opt for a more conservative course on chemical engineering even though she always wanted to be a doctor in a local university. She never once went for any enrichment courses or job internships for she felt she didn't deserve it, and was always worried about failure. Her sister, on the other hand, managed to secure a job as a lawyer after going to UCL - she wasn't as smart, but was more confident of her own abilities. She failed to get into UCL the first time but continued to appeal, showing forth her dazzling co-curricular records for the interviewers to get another glimpse at.So what's the main difference? Do people get charmed more by intelligence, or by more innate qualities like charisma and confidence?Many smart people I've interacted with had problems of their own. Some were just lazy and breezed through school, never needing to develop any study techniques, hence suffering tremendously in university where the content was more challenging and their classmates were on par with them. Some, like my friend, lacked the confidence and experience in extra-curricular activities that showcased skills other than studying and doing well in tests.It seems that smartness can only help you to a certain degree. You begin on a starting line ahead of the rest, but if you don't put in effort into running and training those leg muscles, you don't necessarily take on the lead forever. In this new age where groupwork and leadership are key qualities in the workplace, smartness and good grades can only secure you an interview, but not necessarily past it. With so many graduates holding paper degrees, what differentiates you from the rest?Therefore, those who are more socially aware know what they need to do to beef up their portfolio - they study hard to make up for their “lower intelligence”, hence developing better study techniques. They go for job internships and work attachments without fear of failure and judgment - since they aren't as used to succeeding in school as those who are smarter. More importantly, they exude confidence and charisma which are key traits to have, unlike the smarter ones who are generally more reserved and keep their thoughts to themselves.As the saying goes, “You don't actually need to know what you're doing. You just need to seem like you know what you're doing.” That's why so many smart people can abused to do all the dirty work, for the higher-ups who may have less knowledge but have the qualities aforementioned, especially confidence.