I reject uniform distribution theory and only recognize the graph that looks like a pair of torpedo titties.

was just joking around with a sibling about how some of the most intensely "being highly intelligent is my identity" people from high school with supportive families grew up to be dumb as hell.

the gifted valedictorian became a nurse, then went full "iraq had WMDs, but it was classified" chud, quit the workforce to have 4 children, is a god-tier horder with rooms full of actual garbage, and now is entangled in several MLMs shoveling a spouse's very high income into a blackhole.

the "actually, i have a 160 IQ" inherited a bunch of $$, bought a bunch of vehicles, had 5 kids, went full blown "dance mom" facebook+social media freakshow, and spends most of their effort trying to cultivate inappropriate relationships and fabricate dramas with other married spouses in their neighborhood.

excellence and success are subjective. a life of curiosity, personal enrichment, family, and friends can be excellent without needing accolades or other features of careerist striving. but i'll be damned if some really "smart" people don't take their potential and, in defiance of the odds, turn it into a shit smoothie.

Like I'm even good enough to have imposter syndrome.

Others have touched on this, but ultimately the most vital trait a person can possess is perseverance and a bias for action. I would gladly work with a mediocre person who works relentlessly at improving their skills and figuring out solutions. I don't enjoy working with "gifted" people who have plenty of ideas and few actions to show for it. Intelligence can make you risk averse, and you're useless if you're too afraid to take any action.

I believe this is called the Salieri zone

Had the top conversation in third grade. Have spent the rest of my life in the blue zone.

Gifted kids aren't necessarily smarter than anyone else. They just develop their adult levels of intelligence faster than normal. So there is no guarantee that the amount they will be able to maintain that performance gap going forward. Indeed, they are likely to do worse as they never had to develop the skills to do well in school. So once school gets hard enough for them to need those skills they don't have them.