IQ is the “g factor” and this is it. While this bears the core truth, we also have mental strategies that stem from our cultural background. The topic of IQ vs culture is really broad and while we should not forget the core concept, we must approach such strategies that make Czech top managers versus German ones.
Brief introduction of IQ
While people have encoded patterns that can estimate a person’s IQ, “g factor” was discovered where there were highly developed technology.
Before IQ was ever tested, general intelligence was already shaping the world. People did not need numbers to prove who could think in systems. The proof was in the results. Submarines moved under water in the 1600s. Calculus redefined thinking in the 1600s and 1700s. Steam engines turned heat into power. Cartographers solved longitude with astronomy and clocks. Electric currents sent messages across continents. Vaccines stopped death. Lawmakers wrote abstract rules for millions. None of this came from instincts. It came from layered reasoning, long attention spans, and mental structure. The same traits IQ tests later tried to measure.
But there were efforts to find out what intelligence and it was fruitful. Pupils who scored at some example subject scored also in different one.
So factor analysis was developed and this made the IQ testing a science.
Because it is not everything but it is nearly everything. Having IQ of 50, 60, 70, 85, 100, 115, 125, 130, 145, 150 or 160+ drastically predict your life attainment. Assembling blocks won’t make you smarter of course, however, these tasks are the product of factor analysis which is a science of itself and your IQ is measured by it.
There are extremely significant correlations of median average IQ and given professions (Schmidt Hunter 2004). The more prestigious and cognitively demanding the higher the median average arises. And there are also minimum requirements for each profession. Yes, we have elite lawyers with IQ 90, but there are just a few of them. The median is – predictably- very high.
The same IQ, different outcomes
A culture as all predestines some nation’s outcome. Bad voters, bad party members, bad politicians. Yet some politicians still hate civic society.
But it gets deeper: you have a top engineer with an IQ of 140. And we are still talking about the same measurable thing.
But the same engineer may alter those patters with risk taking when thinking, may use creativity more.
They thrive for more action, of course, therefore altering thinking procesess.
More perfectionism also makes the finite mental outcome different. Discipline as factor also plays a role. Peer pressure may thinking process different.
IQ vs culture: Czech corporate sphere: Rethinking everything four times
One Czech oligarch with experience with the Western corporate culture admitted that Czech had been rethinking things numerous times. He also boasted that a new purchase of some company takes 5 minutes.
Time limit and unique mental patterns
A deadline is coming. And we have cultural patterns. How would a Czech top manager and his German counterpart act?
Limit of time and possible failure make IQ strategies altered. Some cultures plan in one line. Others branch. The Czech mind often re-evaluates late in the game. The German process frontloads control. Each strategy uses the same “g”, just mapped differently.
In some places, ambiguity is accepted. In others, it is crushed early. A high-IQ mind may bloom in ambiguity—or shut down from discomfort.
Experimentation and managerial visions
Make sure some things are going on as they always were. No experiments make IQ, well, just an IQ.
Young managers ofter acquire skills of those older one. All visions, all processes, and outcomes finally differ.
Some people visualize. Others narrate. Some argue with themselves like lawyers. Others intuit like musicians. Same IQ, different mental gear.
In some cultures, intuition is dismissed. In others, it is a key asset. When instinct is trusted, reasoning becomes more fluid—but also more prone to misfire.
Same problem, different lens. One person sees a puzzle. Another sees a threat.
A mind that responds to praise will chase what pleases others. A mind that craves internal alignment will push into deeper territory. IQ does not predict the fuel that drives it.
Other mental capabilities derived from IQ
Where rules are implicit, intelligence adapts through observation. Where they are explicit, intelligence relies on compliance. Both require “g”, but one leans on intuition, the other on memory and precision.
Some minds go narrow and deep. Others wide and shallow. Both are shaped by culture. Education systems push one direction or the other, training minds to either master or sample.
When people are forced to juggle two conflicting truths, their brain adapts. It builds tolerance, layering, detachment. If everything must be consistent, thinking becomes more brittle.
Cultures with strong reading habits train mental endurance. They wire the brain for nuance, contradiction, depth. Cultures with low reading engagement may still be clever—but fast, fragmented, and shallow.
Theory of mind is not IQ. It is psychological maturity. People who simulate others’ thoughts reason politically, socially, and indirectly. That’s a different mental strategy—especially among leaders.
When people have no decision rights, they stop exploring mentally. IQ becomes unused storage. Cultures with distributed authority unlock that potential.
Some cultures train minds to think relationally first—who is involved, who is affected, who must be protected—before solving the technical issue.
In some societies, effort is believed to matter. In others, outcomes are seen as predetermined. This belief deeply impacts mental energy and problem commitment.
Germans gone, the different outlook for the company
I know this shouldn’t be admitted as evidence. But I know one Czech company where there were only Germans managers. After their departure, things went completely differently.
Schooling system matters in how you will think
The schooling system matters more than people think. It does not just give knowledge. It wires the mind for a certain kind of thought. In some countries, education is rigid. Students are trained to obey. They learn that questions can be wrong, they memorize answers. And they fear the teacher. They fear the system. The result? High-IQ students who hesitate to explore, who wait for permission, who do not push beyond what is asked. In other systems, students are allowed to doubt. To challenge. To build. These schools do not just produce knowledge—they produce method. A person who is taught to compare, criticize, and construct will use their intelligence differently than someone taught to repeat and conform.
This runs deeper than curriculum. It is about mental style. Does the system reward fast answers? Then thinking becomes quick, but shallow. Does it reward complex explanations? Then thought becomes structured, layered, and resilient. Some schools train minds for exams. Others train minds for uncertainty. That changes how people handle risk, feedback, conflict, and ambiguity. It even changes how they lead. One person comes out trained to follow systems. The other comes out trained to question them. Same IQ—completely different outcomes.
Culture sets the stage. School trains the performance. Intelligence may be raw potential, but education decides how it will be channeled. And once a style of thinking is formed, it rarely gets undone. The adult executive, the voter, the manager, the policymaker—they are still using the habits they learned in school. That is why two nations with the same average IQ can end up building totally different institutions, strategies, and futures.
Conclusion: IQ vs culture
We have the very general ability to solve very general things. And it remains the same. It is this very ability how to make things done.
But take a look at the Chinese developing flourishment. They need IQ but they are inept to come up with Microsoft of Apple.
One may claim we slide to creativity, but the very different attributes of g factor are needed. And Chinese don’t have it. This is whole IQ vs culture.
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