That may revolve more around one's, shall we say, "finesse" with women. Me, personally, I lost count before I turned 21. And there, being 2-3 SDs above is rarely, if ever, a problem. You don't even have to speak the same language, which ought to put paid to notions about the importance of intelligence, one way or the other. The _real_ problem with women, and that mostly in modern society, comes in with the ones three or more SDs _above_ the average, and that is mostly because they're miserably unhappy to begin with.

By the way, a man can be a lot brighter than any given good woman and the odds remain excellent that she'll still be _wiser_ that you.

I do see your point, sir. I agree that in the military the communications gap is greatly reduced if not eliminated outright. One of my first bosses was a nuclear reactor officer on a nuclear attack sub, and I'll never forget how he told me about the ways in which the Navy has figured out how to translate the extreme complexities of reactor maintenance and safety into terms and procedures that can be understood by 18-year-old kids fresh off the farm from the Midwest. That shows great intelligence, skill, and discipline in communication, and that is all to the good.

However – with great respect, sir, I must also agree with Dire Badger's point below about the lack of similar command-and-control structures in the civilian world. Without that structure and discipline, it is much, much harder to communicate downwards and outwards. I've seen this happen time and again, where extremely smart people simply could not get their point across no matter how hard they tried to warn others that what they were doing was very foolish – and ended up being proven right.

They had a very hard time because they could not get past politics, siloed thinking, and of course the "Not Invented Here" syndrome so common to big bureaucratic organisations.

There is also a distinct gender communications gap at play. It is far easier for a man of IQ 150 to communicate with other men 40 points less intelligent than him, than it is for a man to communicate with a less intelligent woman. The men tend to understand and obey social hierarchies established by rank and seniority; the women do not tend to understand it.

Well, we do! So HA!!! ))

I was fortunate to find a woman who is, while not exactly brilliant, at least 1 SD above average in intelligence. Our 'social time' rather than being concerned with What Beyonce is wearing, is generally consumed by tabletop role-playing games.

As Far as the comment of Colonel Kratman, above, I think there is a vast difference between the social networking required in commanding men, versus that required to entertain women. I was in the Navy for many years, and seldom found it a severe chore to explain, in depth occasionally, what was required of my less-gifted subordinates.

The largest difference, I think, is that it is your subordinate's JOB to comprehend and follow your orders. Arguing with you is prohibited, in many cases. In addition, I have found it much easier to communicate with average IQ MEN than it is to communicate with the exact same IQ women, primarily because the WAY we communicate is so astonishingly different.

Men communicate Ideas, solutions, and concepts relatively easily, while we communicate emotional information, empathy, and the idea behind the solution rather than the resolution itself.

Pick a relatively common argument you might have with both a woman and a male friend, Tardiness for example.

When you grump about your friend being tardy, he will make excuses or explanations, and will at the very least assure you he will not be late again.

When you grump at your girl about her tardiness, It becomes about emotions. She gets mad at you for making her FEEL bad for being late, and attempts to excuse it by calling attention to all the times YOU have been late, or possibly even switching it over to something having nothing to do with tardiness whatsoever. "But you forgot our anniversary". In a very real way, it becomes conversational combat, and woe betide the male that attempts to stick to the point. She may promise to not be late next time, but as sure as shit smells, she will forget about the whole tardiness thing the moment the conversation is over and just think about how it FEELS.

This gulf is so great, in fact, that she will remember later what she FELT like you said, even if you never used the words she claimed you did, and then crow about having a better memory because she 'remembers what you said when you forgot about it already." Of course we forgot it, because we never said it.

These difference widen a possibly-navigable gulf between intelligence levels into an impassable quagmire. And if you DO somehow wind up with a girl that is as intelligent as you are, you might as well be at OPPOSITE ends of the intelligence spectrum.

I would suggest that, if some very high IQ people cannot stand to be around, don't know to value, and lack the talent to make good and productive use of those not as intelligent, the flaw – the _deficiency_ – is in them.