Knowledge and intelligence are both essential for material success, but which is more important in our modern world? Intelligence is a product of a person’s natural abilities, while knowledge is a product of a person’s education, whether formal or informal. In a sense, intelligence is the raw material that a person begins life with, but knowledge is the series of layers that are placed on that foundation through life experiences. While intelligence has the ability to impress, it is knowledge that puts intelligence to practical effect.

A person’s intelligence is something that he or she is born with, a product of heredity, and it can be assessed using standardized tests which have developed over the years (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient). Though there is dispute over the accuracy of such tests, they do at the least demonstrate that raw intelligence can be measured to some degree. While attempts have been made to connect high intelligence with success, there is a fundamental flaw in such reasoning. While clearly having a higher intelligence gives a person an advantage in future success, this advantage must be seized and used for it to lead to material success in the long term. There is no guarantee that intelligence alone will lead to success and in fact in can sometimes hinder such success. Those of very high intelligence often find it difficult to engage in many of the social connecting activities that are crucial to moving up in a corporate environment. In fact, intelligence can sometimes be a barrier to the kinds of interaction that lead to material success.

Knowledge is much more practical than intelligence. While the intelligent often deal with theory, the gaining of knowledge is a practical endeavor that is more directly connected to the everyday activities that produce material success. The process of gathering knowledge brings a person into contact with those particular skills necessary to gain the upward mobility that leads to success. Often it is those who have to struggle to gain understanding that are both more connected with the general public and have a richer insight into how the average person makes decisions. 

Material success usually involves anticipating how a person or group of people think and such an ability is much easier for a person whose intelligence level is closer to the average. High intelligence can often cut a person off from exactly those people who will be the people who help him or her achieve material success. 

Because intelligence can be measured, it is essentially a fixed quantity.  Knowledge on the other hand has no upper limit. There is always more that can be known and it is a thirst for knowledge, more than anything else, that leads to material success. The desire to know more and more, particularly about a particular subject, is the drive that leads to success in almost every endeavor. As a person is identified as being a leading authority in a particular field, that person will draw around him or her others who will recognize this level of mastery. 

Acquiring knowledge which is every increasing, keeps a person up to date on the latest developments in a field and such knowledge is directly connected to material success. The mastery of knowledge is the best way to make a person indispensable in a corporate environment and being indispensable will inevitably lead to material success.

No individual can achieve success, whether material or otherwise, without a combination of intelligence and knowledge. Low intelligence will likely limit the ability of a person to rise to the level necessary for material success, but it is knowledge, ever-increasing, that is most necessary for material success. The continued process of gaining knowledge will create the best environment for achieving material success and as a result knowledge is more important than intelligent in making material success a reality in our modern world.