Wren, nothing at all. I just wasn't sure of the relevance (getting a good job or making money in general definitely doesn't require profound or
any giftedness), and I guess that I jumped to the conclusion that you meant that strong motivation trumps intelligence in general. If you were just referring to worldly success and attaining leadership positions as discussed in the article, then I guess I misunderstood due to the context here. I might have reacted similarly to "P90X workouts trump IQ", with a link to an article on fitness training.
I guess I never really assumed that high intelligence would be highly correlated with such things as achieving leadership roles on sports teams. Being a dunce probably doesn't help, of course. I definitely would never assume that a CEO or politician was very highly intelligent, and that intelligence was the prime factor in their success. With a CEO, I would expect to see a gentle rise in an IQ floor with the increasing size of company, perhaps with increased requirements in certain industries, and with some downward exceptions for socially adept academic dunces. For politicians, I really don't see how high intellectual ability is all that necessary either. Sarah Palin seems about as dim as they come, though I suppose she's got a pretty face and her stance appeals to a certain demographic; I would guess that she has helped to define the IQ floor for national candidates, with her fall from grace directly based on her apparent stupidity.
One area where we might differ is on the definition of giftedness. I take it to mean high intelligence, whereas I've seen broad definitions including leadership ability and tons of other things. I don't think the type of extroversion and motivation discussed in the article helps much as a mathematician, but it might well help a "gifted" leader.
Many brilliant people never become wealthy, and the most wealthy or powerful are not usually the most brilliant. This isn't news to me.
Now, if your daughter wants to become an astrophysicist, for example, I'd say that motivation and intelligence are both key, but not so much extroversion.
