Intelligent vs. Smart: Let's Make a Distinction

If you listen to business conversations, you’ll often hear people referred to as “super smart”. And in those same conversations, you’ll hear people talk about things such as the WeWork débacle, where billions of $ of value were lost in a few weeks, or the challenges Uber has had since going public.

What’s going on? These deals were backed by firms like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments and SoftBank. Few would argue those firms employ people who are not intelligent.

But are they always smart?

Intelligent and smart: there is a difference.

Let’s look at the words. Per Merriam Webster, intelligent means “ having or indicating a high or satisfactory degree of intelligence and mental capacity” and “revealing or reflecting good judgment or sound thought” as well as “possessing intelligence” and “guided or directed by intellect”.

And smart means “having or showing a high degree of mental ability”, as well as “witty, clever” and “stylish or elegant in dress or appearance”

Similar, but not the same. Smart is more about how one uses the tools of intelligence.

Consider a couple of examples. A McLaren Alva used to do doughnuts in a parking lot. Or a quantum computer used to look at porn. Intelligence being used in dumb ways.

This holds try for people, too. Few would argue that Bill Clinton is not very intelligent. Few would argue that his affair with Monica Lewinsky was anything but stupid.

Why this disconnect? There’s a lot of good writing on the topic. A good start is the New Yorker article “Why Smart People Are Stupid”; Vox has a piece on the brain psychology behind bad decisions. And Inc had a piece on biases that lead to stupid decisions, and how to mitigate them.

Me, I just want to clean up the language.

My suggestion: give the word “smart” a rest when talking about people; use it for decisions. That will separate the intelligence of many from their many dumb decisions.