Book "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance."

I like she told her father, who, if I heard well, was a bit skeptical of whether he thought she was smart of not. 

She responded that grit was more of a valuable trait than smarts.

Allow me to describe what I believe Intelligence is. First of all everybody is intelligent. Biologically speaking, we are literally intelligent beings. I think Intelligence is a combination of dedication, knowledge gathering, having a divine sense of self, and what Professor cornel west calls a "habitual vision of greatness". When people realize or decide to realize that they deserve to be smart or intelligence, they will be. 

On the other hand,  our community/ the people we surround ourselves with are a huge determining factor of our self worth.

For example, if a friend tells us "I think you should apply for that Project Management job" you would think, "You know what, yes I can do that job, I will apply".

On the other hand, if another friend, who maybe does not want you to succeed might say, "I don't think you can do that Project Management job. Maybe apply for the lower ranking job". Because that person is connected to you as humans, you may think, "she's right, I guess I can't do the big job...I'll go for the lower job."

So, please surround yourself with encouraging people and people that value you. Also value them too. It's a two-way street.