A new Swedish study has confirmed what many have long suspected: the highest-earning employees are not necessarily the smartest. Thanks to a trove of IQ data collected when Swedish men aged 18yo and over were required to do mandatory military service up until 2010, researchers were able to chase up 60,000 of those men to see what they had earned over the ensuing 11 years. The study did find a link between higher intelligence and higher income up to the modest salary of 600,000 Swedish kronor ($83,320) – but after that point, intelligence plateaued as income levels continued to rise. And the top 1% of earners scored slightly lower on the intelligence scale than those in the income tier directly below them. Researchers’ key takeout: career success “is more likely driven by family resources or luck than by ability”. So much for working smarter, not harder…