In any profession there will be a graph of those participants with the highest and lowest IQs. Contrary to popular belief this graph is not a Bell Curve. In fact it follows more in line with the 80-20 Rule. In considering this and studying the participants in the industry, it was noted that there are several sectors of the real estate profession that must be considered, each having a similar yet slightly different dynamic.
We do know that the top 1-5% in any industry has to be pretty sharp just to stay on top. We also know that the movers and shakers are led by the next up and coming who will take their places, these dynamics play out over and over again, as those second tier vying for the top tier are hungry and working hard and performing at optimum. Well that pretty much takes care of the 5% top + 15% second tier = the 80%. How many of those are of high IQ?
You see there is a difference between types of IQ also, some are politically savvy, having emotional intelligence, others are efficiency savvy, some still are very excellent with the numbers, all who play the game concentrate on their strengths and know their weakness, while they work to improve upon them. Of course, then there is the; Wonder What Happened Crowd.
These are the folks who are taking up space, scraping as much of the cream as they can amass and are not going to be in the industry long, for they are not built to last. So, where do Real Estate Professionals fall in the over all range of IQ? We know for instance that policemen, generally will not be hired if they are over 105 IQ, and there is a definite reason for that, although an entirely different subject.
Some might say that anyone who is selling real estate in this market has a few screws loose or is a few slice short of a loaf of bread, but I would say to such critics that, the many who have left the market were the 80%, not the 20% and thus a good chunk of them may have been more on the low IQ side of the range.
Where Do Real Estate Professionals Rate on the IQ Scale?
Just in Looking at a few of the Blogs here it is quite evident that there are some very high IQ folks, at least I have noticed quite a few, how about you?
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Lance,
In every walk of life the 80/20 rule seems to apply regardless of IQ. The world needs a vast mix to keep doing what we do. After many years in management, I found that the best managers were not always the ones with highest IQ, but the ones that had the ability to motivate people and were smart enough to know what areas they were not strong. Hiring people to make a team requires putting the right people for a position in it, regardless of who felt they should be next in line. On the other hand, I have seen highly intelligent people that didn't know which end of the screwdriver to use. The same applies to real estate professionals. Some have specific skill sets and that is where I think office managers (brokers) should come in. Building a team of agents that collectively compliment each other benefits each individual and the office as a whole. After that it comes down to the willingness of each individual to support the team.
I don't believe that IQ alone played a part in those that left the business. It just could be that hey had a high IQ but came in at a time that they could not support themselves under the current market conditions or it may have been a smart decision for them in evaluating the career of real estate.