I have a quibble with the piece's core scrap of evidence: "The remarkable finding of their study is that, compared with the participants who were “only” in the 99.1 percentile for intellectual ability at age 12, those who were in the 99.9 percentile — the profoundly gifted — were between three and five times more likely to go on to earn a doctorate, secure a patent, publish an article in a scientific journal or publish a literary work. A high level of intellectual ability gives you an enormous real-world advantage."

Most of those achievements--earning a doctorate, publishing a journal article or a literary work or even securing a patent--all seem to be items that favor dogged effort rather than pure smarts. Moreover, I would bet it's also the case that the kids in the 99.9 percentile spent more time drilling, practicing and studying for their early-age SATs than did the 99.1 percentile group, although I'm fairly certain the time both groups spent studying standardized test questions--at the age of 12--would frighten me.

That said, it only figures that the 99.9 group would continue through life outworking most people they go up against, hence the improved rates of adult "achievement," a word I employ loosely.