[dwc]

A not too smart "go getter" will always be able to do well at something. There's always a place for such people, and it's easy for management to understand how someone like that can bring value.

OTOH, a personal story:

In school, I got excellent grades up until lots of effort was required. At that point my grades went down drastically. This is what comes from being praised as smart, separate from results.

It took me a good while after I was out of school to really come to grips with things, and it's still a bit of a struggle. However, I have managed to make a career of programming. I try to play to my strengths, solving tricky problems that don't yield easily to hard work alone. This makes me fairly valuable, though I have to work hard to find employment where management realizes that there are roles for people like me. Currently I develop software in support of the science team on an active NASA space mission. If I can pat myself on the back a bit, that's not bad for someone who took an extra semester to graduate high school and never went to college.

So someone smart can learn to work harder and be results oriented, but without help from parents and school I think it's a lot harder and brings delays. What could I have done if I'd been praised for results rather than "being smart?" I don't obsess about that, but it comes to mind these days as I raise my child.