The IQ quest comes from two directions. First, it is a drive to identify persons with some sort of higher mental capability and secondly why some have this capability and others do not. As far as an answer for these two basics, I got nothing. However, for me they are the root base of why knowledge of IQ facets drives forward in exploration.
Having a high IQ does not equal in itself a guarantee of enhanced success. MENSA itself has members from high flying successes in one area or another to persons working as a laborer. Personality wise, some are gregarious and others are withdrawn recluses.
I’ll share some experiences... I’ll start off like the AA does and say, my name is Hoot and I am smart. Book learning wise, I’ve got two STEM degrees in different fields, microbiology and chemical engineering. I was offered a job out of college by a semiconductor company that wanted to pay me $$$ and send me back to college for an electrical engineering degree. I was completely worn out with college though so went into industry in a quirky R&D niche. As far as IQ, I have no idea but it’s better than average. The only testing I’ve done is Mensa’s format and one battery of tests completely twists my brain so much I walk away from it.
Read that last sentence, it’s important and applies to everyone. If anything, I believe that persons with higher IQs are more prone to having some other mentally related aspect that is much lower than the rest and possibly debilitating.
I had never before heard the term very stable genius until Donald Trump applied it to himself. Light bulbs went off, flashed even! LOL! That was something missing in how I could describe things and this lit things up. History is filled with great thinkers of higher intellect, higher IQ but what sets some above the others is a broader range of stability. I accept DJT’ self description as a VSG. Another that I nominate is Alfred Einstein, whom I wonder if was really a space alien. Hehehe...
From personal experience, if one has a degree in mechanical engineering, has common sense, and has high IQ, one becomes highly successful. I did not know how good I was during my working years. But looking back, while colleagues got fired or laid off, every time I gave 2 weeks notice, the company gave me another raise. It was getting ridiculous. At age 46, I gave another notice and just left for a government job. I was frankly burned out, and was looking for an easy way to slide into retirement with huge benefits. And it worked!