When asked for the key attributes of successful leaders the most stated characteristic globally is intelligence. Whether in Asia, America or Australia, people like their leaders to be smart. But is it true that intelligence equals good leadership? Are other forms of intelligence just as or even more important - social, practical or emotional intelligence for example? Can you be too smart for leadership?

When talking about intelligence we are referring to innate cognitive abilities. The consensus is that IQ is fixed and can't be improved, although this is currently being challenged by some that are finding more neuroplasticity in the brain in adults than was previously thought.

It may seem common sense that smart people are more likely to become leaders. Certainly, if we believe smart people make better leaders, as the survey indicated, then we are likely to select those people to be leaders. This can be seen in the selection systems we design that are based on academic achievements or in the ways we assess people in interactions and in interviews.

In a large meta study in 2004, actual intelligence was found to have a positive relationship with effective leadership. But that correlation was fairly low and other characteristics like extraversion and conscientiousness correlated higher to leadership success. The perception of a leader's intelligence was more significant than actual intelligence for leadership success. You might not actually need to be smart to be a good leader, you just need people to think you are smart. This suggests that we build up intelligent people and assume that they are these all-knowing, all-powerful leaders with abilities beyond our reach. This is the 'halo effect' in action, where we take one positive characteristic of a person and assume they have other positive characteristics that are unrelated.

Actual intelligence was found to have a positive relationship with effective leadership. But that correlation was fairly low and other characteristics like extraversion and conscientiousness correlated higher to leadership success.

What happens under stress?

Research shows that the intelligence of a leader had no correlation on performance in high stress situations. The theory is that when leaders are under stress their cognitive resources are diverted away from the task, thus creating a more level playing field when it comes to intelligence. You could argue that the best leaders have both high IQ and high EQ so that they can better manage their emotions and in particular, navigate stress, to better apply their IQ to tasks.

Leadership behaviours

Intelligence also has no impact on leadership success when leaders don't use any directive behaviours. In other words, if you are intelligent you need at times to use that intelligence by giving directions, solving problems and helping others to see what you can see. If you are intelligent but are in consultation mode with your team all the time, they are not getting the benefit of your cognitive abilities.

Can leaders be too intelligent?

In a word, yes. The most intelligent leaders perform the worst on all measures of leadership. There is a sweet spot of intelligence (IQ result of 120 found to be optimal) where leadership performance peaks and then starts to decline. Note that this is true for other leadership characteristics too. Performance drops when leaders have too much conscientiousness (think of the leaders that stays late to finish everything themself rather than delegating to the team) and too much emotional stability (these leaders are so laid back they fail to respond to external events when needed).

For the highly intelligent leader they could alienate their team through increased complexity or place high demands on others beyond their capabilities. This could be overcome with high self-awareness and application of emotional and social intelligence skills in addition to IQ. These leaders could also avoid the pitfalls of their high IQ by having an equally smart team who can keep up with them!

For the highly intelligent leader they could alienate their team through increased complexity or place high demands on others beyond their capabilities.

So, what do we know -

• Intelligence matters for attaining leadership roles - people look to evidence of your IQ in the recruitment process. Thus, leaders in general have a higher-than-average intelligence than the general population.
  
• Intelligence matters somewhat for leadership performance - but not as much as people think. You need to be smart enough to be considered for the role and perform at a decent level, but 'extra' intelligence doesn't make too much difference.
  
• The relationship between perception of intelligence and leadership performance is stronger than the relationship between actual intelligence and leadership performance.
  
• You can be too intelligent, at which point leadership performance declines.
  

What to do?

• Remember perception is everything so find ways to demonstrate your intelligence (without irritating your colleagues along the way!)
  
• If you are highly intelligent, support that intelligence with developing your emotional and social intelligence skills.
  
• Find coping strategies to better manage stress at work so you can fully engage your cognitive abilities.
  
• Use a directive leadership style when the team could benefit from your insights but keep in mind doing this all the time will limit the team's own problem solving and creative capacities.
  

Contact Us to understand more about combining leadership with intelligence.