IQ in relation to intelligence is comparable to measuring someone’s athletic ability by how fast they can run the 100 yard dash. While speed is important in many athletic fields, there are other intangibles that can’t be measured in the 100 yard dash if we were to take that as a measure of overall athletic ability. In other words I think IQ only measures certain facets of intellectual ability and doesn’t give the complete picture. (not sour grapes on my part, I scored 137 on an IQ test just trying to keep things in perspective). I think there’s a ‘sweet spot’ as far as IQ is concerned, probably around 125 or so. After that the negatives start overriding the positives as far as social and intellectual achievement is concerned.
I absolutely agree with you. IQ is just one faucet of being "intelligent." In three tests over a seven year period, I scored between 138 and 141. But I have a hard time focusing and can be distracted easily and I am prone to veer off to the side when I see something that interests me. I am intellectually curious, but don't like to dig too deep. My judgement skills were pretty poor when I was young and I had to make a real effort to stay out of trouble. I did OK, but not like a high IQ would lead someone to infer.
Which is why people who are willing to grind often surpass the high IQ crowd in the long run.