[pertinhower]

I think you're right. There are two forces at work: innate ability and social acceptability. Innate ability tends to harm social acceptability. Therefore, to the extent that social acceptability determines a person's overall ability to succeed, high innate ability can actually pose a greater net detriment to success than a lower innate ability does. In a word, being "smart" or even "skillful" may in some cases make you less successful. The optimum, as you point out, is to have high innate ability but to disguise it in order to reduce the social downside. The trouble with this is that it's harder to disguise than it might seem: people tend to "sense" the intelligence of other people. You don't laugh at the right times. You tell jokes that no one gets. You think the big ra-ra push is crazy and you can't help saying so. The path that you find obviously correct is the one everyone else finds silly.

I'm convinced that the real solution, to the extent it's possible, is for highly intelligent people to find their way into positions that don't require social acceptance. Academics is obviously one destination (one log-jam, rather) for these types. But by all means avoid management, because that's where the attractiveness of your brilliance to employers and the unacceptability of your brilliance to your reports become a trap.

[Consultant32452]

I think it's important to recognize that not all innate abilities are created equally. Innate intelligence will make you a social pariah but innate ability in a physical skill that results in you being an amazing basketball player will make you Michael Jordan.

[baldfat]

I am a very social person so this might be strange but here is my career path so far.

Well I went from working IT at Age 13 - 17 (Sales and programing) Artist and Art Restoration 17 - 20 Child Minister and Christian Camp Director 20 - 32 (LEAST FAVORITE JOB) RD and Systems Librarian at a College 32 - 37 (College as faculty is a very high drama environment) (FAVORITE JOB) - Head Start Literacy Coach for 250 3-5 year olds.

All the places it was bad to be thought of as intelligent though Pre-School had the fewest consequences.

[ithkuil]

Another solution is to work in a place where highly intelligent people are the majority.