異類之不一樣的成功啟示錄 第49期:IQ高潛力就大？

Today, many of Terman's ideas remain central to the way we think about success.

現(xiàn)在，特曼的許多觀點依舊左右著我們對成功的判斷。

Schools have programs for the "gifted."

學校存在很多專為“天才”設計的科目，

Elite universities require that students take an intelligence test, like, say the American Scholastic Aptitude Test, for admission.

名牌大學經(jīng)常要求考生進行智力測試（就像美國大學本科標準入學考試一樣）。

High-tech companies like Google or Microsoft carefully measure cognitive abilities of perspective employees out of the same belief:

出于同樣的觀念，Google或者微軟這樣的高端技術(shù)公司也會對應聘者的認知能力認真地進行測試：

they are convinced that those at the very top of the IQ scale have the greatest potential.

他們深信IQ值較高的人具有更大的潛力。

(At Microsoft, famously, job applicants are asked a battery of questions designed to test their smarts,

(著名的例子是微軟，他們要求應聘者回答一系列的問題，從而確定其是否聰明，

including the classic "Why are manhole covers round?

該類問題包括這樣的杰作：“為什么檢修孔的蓋子都是圓的？ ”

If you don't know the answer to that question, you are not smart enough to work at Microsoft.)

如果你的回答不準確，那你就不夠聰明，你無法勝任微軟的工作。)

If I had magic powers and offered to raise your IQ by 30 points, you'd say yes- right?

假如我具有某種魔力，能讓你的IQ提升30個點，那么你一定會不勝感激——對嗎？

You'd assume that would help you get further ahead in the world.

可以預見，這能幫助你在社會上走得更遠。

And when we hear about someone like Chris Langan,

我們一聽到有一個像克里斯.蘭根這樣的人，

our instinct response is the same as Terman's instinctive response when he met Henry Cowell almost a century ago.

我們的本能反應就會像差不多一個世紀以前的特曼遇見亨利.考埃爾的本能反應一樣。

We feel awe. Geniuses are the ultimate outliers.

他們讓我們敬畏，這些天才擁有睿智的頭腦，

Surely there is nothing that can hold someone like that back.

我們不敢相信世界上還有什么東西能比擁有睿智的頭腦更好的了

But is that true?

但事實果真如此？

So far in Outliers, we've seen that extraordinary achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity.

迄今為止，我們在《異類》一書中看到那些成就非凡業(yè)績的奇才異類，他們更多的是依靠機遇，而不是個人的天賦。

In this Chapter, I want to try and dig deeper into why that's the case by looking at the outlier in its purest and most distilled form- geniuses.

在這一章，我希望從那些更為純粹、經(jīng)過精挑細選的非凡之人一那些天才們的角度，深入地剖析其中的原因。

For years, we've taken our cues from people like Terman when it comes to understanding the significance of high intelligence.

多年以來，一旦我們希望了解高智商的意義時，常常受著特曼這類人的觀念的影響。

But, as we shall see, Terman made an error.

但是，正如我們即將看到的，特曼犯了—個錯誤。

He was wrong about his Termites,

亊實證明他對那些“特曼人”的想法是錯誤的，

and had he happened on the young Chris Langan working his way through Principia Mathematica at the age of sixteen,

假如他遇到了年輕的克里斯.蘭根——個能在工作期間閱讀《數(shù)學原理》的16歲少年

he would have been wrong about him for the same reason.

出于同樣的原因，他也會犯同樣的錯誤。

Terman didn't understand what a real outlier was, and that's a mistake we continue to make to this day.

特曼不了解那些出類拔萃的人成功的真正秘訣在哪里，直到現(xiàn)在，我們還在犯這個錯誤。