Curiosity > Intelligence. Always.

Guy Raz Newsletter – July 18, 2024

Intelligence is an overrated attribute.

Obviously, we all want to be “intelligent” or “smart” but what does that actually mean? And where does it get you? Well…that’s up for debate.

In ancient Rome, intelligence was correlated with memory. Great orators like Cicero would stand and recite Greek poetry and philosophy for hours on end. And in his time, he was widely regarded as one of Rome’s most intelligent citizens.

But the thing that made him stand out wasn’t just his ability to remember things. It was his decision to pursue knowledge. In other words, he chose to be curious.

And if there’s one clear lesson I’ve learned from 27 years of interviewing interesting and consequential people it’s this: Intelligence—the ability to acquire and apply knowledge—is useless without curiosity.

In other words…curiosity always trumps intelligence.

And the beauty of curiosity is that anyone—at any time—can simply choose to be curious.

This is a theme you will hear on How I Built This this week in the story…