One thing that bothers me in this essay is that it relies a lot on intelligence being somewhat clear/measurable and agreed upon metric. But there isn't really a

One thing that bothers me in this essay is that it relies a lot on intelligence being somewhat clear/measurable and agreed upon metric. But there isn't really a comprehensive definition of intelligence, let alone a comprehensive way to measure it (IQ for example to a large extent measures how good someone is at taking tests). Coming up with new ideas can itself be a measure of intelligence! That is not to say the spirit of the article is wrong - I've met plenty of people who came across as very smart and didn't really achieve as much in life (so far) as other people who didn't appear to be as smart or smarter. I think other large factors must include ambition, risk-aversion (or lack thereof), confidence and opportunity.