3 ms·

I can answer the headline question very easily: because being smart isn't all that's required.

• hourislate 10y ago
  As someone who comes from a family that has a few successful traditional businesses, luck and who you know plays a big part of your success. It's hard for people who haven't been in business to understand. They have been told that a great product at a fair price with fantastic customer service is what it takes. While that plays a role it is does not even amount to 50% of the formula.
  • dpc59 10y ago
    In my experience business luck and knowing the right people can at least partially be the result of hard work.
  • Clubber 10y ago
    Can you give a breakdown of what you've found to be the percentages "the formula?" I'm honestly curious.
• bottled_poe 10y ago
  Is it required at all? Perhaps... if by 'smart' you mean 'able to exploit opportunities to personal benefit'.
  • smallnamespace 10y ago
    It certainly helps.
  • vidarh 10y ago
    I'd expect that there are a number of factors that help improve your odds, and that being "smart" will be one of them. But so would being born into a wealthy family, or just bing born in a developed country, and be of good health, and any numbers of other factors. As well as a huge amount of chance - e.g. my first company got funded because one of my co-founders ran into a guy in a bar that happened to be in the country for a week or two. Maybe we'd have found other funding if that didn't happen. Maybe not. We'll never know.
• discombobulate 10y ago
  From the study, > Both IQ and personality remain as important predictors in wage equations when both are included in a regression