High IQ, Higher Purpose: Why Numbers Don’t Define a Life
We live in a world obsessed with numbers.
IQ scores, boardroom titles, paychecks, followers — we worship digits as if they are the final proof of success. But here’s a bitter pill: Einstein never even took an IQ test. Yet his ideas changed the course of humanity.
So the real question isn’t how high your IQ is.
It’s what you are doing with it. And that’s where the debate of IQ vs success comes in. Because no matter how high your score is, the meaning of life isn’t in digits, but in what you create with them.
That’s exactly where I take you in Episode 5 of Truth Shots with Kapil, where I sit down with Kishore Asthana — President of Mensa Project Dhruv, former Tata leader, author, poet, and philosopher of consciousness. This is not a conversation about numbers. It’s about intelligence and meaning in life.
From Boardrooms to Street Corners
Kishore has lived multiple lives.
He’s been a gold medalist engineer from NIT Durgapur, an Air India Scholar at IIM Ahmedabad, a Group Vice Chairman working next to royalty in Oman, and today, the man behind Mensa Project Dhruv, mentoring over 300 gifted but underprivileged children in India.
On paper, his résumé reads like a corporate fantasy. But the moments that changed him weren’t about boardrooms or royalty. They were about street corners.
One boy in Project Dhruv raised his hand during a test and asked: “Sir, I live on the street. What address should I write?”
Another couldn’t study because his family couldn’t pay the electricity bill.
These aren’t statistics. They’re human realities. And they’re the reason Kishore chose to use his brilliance for something bigger than himself. That’s the very heart of success beyond IQ — when intelligence stops being self-serving and starts serving others.
The Mirage of Respect
At one point in his life, Kishore sat at the top of the corporate pyramid in Oman. He was literally at the table with royalty. And yet, one offhand remark from a powerful figure cut him down to size. It reminded him that respect abroad is borrowed, not earned.
That moment became a turning point. Because respect that is conditional, that disappears the moment you leave the room, is not respect at all. Kishore realized that dignity is something you should grow old with — and for him, that meant coming home to India.
This is where IQ vs success shows its truest face. Titles, positions, and even proximity to power don’t guarantee respect. Purpose does.
Suffering: A Radical Truth
Not all the truth bombs in this episode come from Kishore. Some are mine.
I said it straight: beyond poverty and survival, most suffering is a choice.
If you sell everything, grow your own food, cut off dependencies, you’ll see how quickly suffering vanishes. It’s uncomfortable to hear, but deep down, you know it’s true. Because what keeps us trapped isn’t always fate — it’s the choices we keep making.
And that’s another layer of purpose beyond numbers — your worth is not decided by digits in your bank account or IQ score, but by the conscious decisions you make daily.
My Contract with God
Another truth I put on the table: I live by a “contract with God.”
The terms are simple: You don’t mess with my life, I don’t mess with You.
It sounds like a joke, but it isn’t. It’s a way of living consciously, by your own rules, so you don’t have to rely on miracles or interventions. Most people live in chaos and then pray for rescue. I’d rather create order and keep the rescue team unemployed.
This mindset ties back to the theme of IQ vs success — intelligence gives you tools, but success comes from how you choose to live.
Meditation Without the Circus
Kishore and I also cut through the nonsense around meditation. Candles, gurus, rituals — we’ve turned it into a performance. But meditation, as Kishore puts it, is brutally simple: sit, breathe, focus. That’s it.
No Instagrammable setup. No props. Just awareness. And in today’s chaos, maybe simplicity is the hardest — and most radical — practice of all.
React Less. Respond More.
One of my favorite exchanges in this episode came when we both agreed on stress. Most of us react too fast. Stress pushes us into overdrive. But wisdom makes you pause.
Kishore’s advice was simple: when you’re stressed, drink some water, breathe, and then decide.
And if you still want to bang your head against the wall? Fine — but do it consciously. Because even head-banging should be a choice, not a reflex.
And that’s another lesson in IQ vs success — it’s not about how fast or reactive you are, it’s about how consciously you respond.
Why This Conversation Matters
Episode 5 isn’t about IQ scores. It’s about what happens when intelligence collides with purpose, dignity, and consciousness.
It’s about realizing that titles don’t equal respect. That suffering doesn’t always come from outside. That spirituality doesn’t need to be dressed up in rituals. That stress doesn’t have to control your reactions.
Most importantly, it’s about how a man who has lived many “successful” lives chose to spend this chapter mentoring children who might never have had a chance otherwise.
This is the perfect illustration of IQ vs success — that true success lies not in numbers, but in how you use intelligence to create meaning.
The Truth Shot
So here’s the truth shot I want you to walk away with:
Stop chasing numbers. Start chasing meaning.
Because in the end, nobody will remember your IQ score or your job title. They’ll remember what you did with it. And that is the ultimate balance of intelligence and meaning in life.
Truth Shots with Kapil – Episode 5: “High IQ, Higher Purpose” featuring Kishore Asthana is live now.
Watch it. Share it. And tell me what truth hit you the hardest.
