I've seen this interview once of Oliver Kahn, who was the german national goal keeper in soccer in the time he played in the league and won the award for being the best soccer player on the world 3 times. He was indeed damned awesome and a damn good goal keeper, tho in person he's a total jerk. Had 3 wifes, who he betrayed all and no is lost somewhere in the aeons of time.
But in the Interview he gave, he said: "I have seen many talented and gifted soccer player in my life, many of them far better than me; I never had any special talent. They all seized to exist at some point, because they so heavily relied on their talents that they forgot about the work it takes."
And with that he was right, no matter what you do may it be business, science, gardening, if you want to contribute something of worth to society, you have to do hard work for it. And with hard work I dont mean physical or intellectual work only, I mean you have to learn that you'll do a lot of mistakes on the way, you have to learn to cope with rejection by others and you have to grow over your own shoulders every day a single bit, cause the vast amount of knowledge that is to be gained in one life, is unbelieveable.
If you had asked me 5 years ago, what I think on the topic: worth vs. intelligence, I had responded with a lot of hate in me towards my surroundings and the society I live in, cause I had many moments in life I just felt not being one of them. That hasnt changed a single bit until today, but I learned to cope with it better. I learned that people have motivations and ideals of their own and that there are some I even can respect for their different attitude. What leads me to the think I wanted to say: I dont believe that worth can be measured in one person at all; I think to have real worth and to really contribute something you will need a lot of other people in your life to help you on your path to personal enlightenment. May it be a coworker in the lab or a beautiful woman on an online forum who tells you that you suck.
Your capability to learn is in the end what will define your worth and your intelligence in my opinion.
---
Here's the video of Olli Kahn, tho you may not understand what he says, watch how he looks, he's a lion and eats people
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9N5BxYt-Zc"].[/YOUTUBE]