Exceptional ability is, by definition, rare. And exceptionality in more than one area simultaneously is even more rare. In a new article, Gilles E. Gignac estimates how rare it is for a person to have high IQ, conscientiousness, and emotional stability all at the same time.
Based on correlations of r = -.03 (IQ and conscientiousness), r = .07 (IQ and emotional stability), and r = .42 (conscientiousness and emotional stability), Gignac estimated the expected percentage of people who would be above different cutoffs on all 3 variables simultaneously.
The results:
16.27% of the population is above average for all three variables (cutoff z = 0).
0.9366% of the population is “remarkable”, which is above a cutoff of z = 1 on all three variables.
0.00853% of the population is “exceptional”, which is above a cutoff of z = 2 on all three variables. That’s 85 out of every 1 million people.
0.000005% of the population is “profoundly exceptional”, which is above a cutoff of z = 3 on all three variables. That’s 1 person in every 20 million.
The lesson is simple: Finding people for jobs or educational programs who are significantly above average on multiple variables can sometimes be very difficult. As Gignac states in the article, “. . . there may be a tendency to overestimate the availability of candidates who excel across several domains. This lack of awareness may lead to unrealistic expectations in recruitment processes. Therefore, individuals who consistently score even slightly above average across key traits like intelligence, conscientiousness, and emotional stability may not be fully appreciated for their rarity and value.”
The z = 2 cutoff is most relevant for practical purposes. That’s 130 IQ, very high conscientiousness, and very high emotional stability all at once. Only 85 per million people meet that bar. This explains why elite universities and top companies struggle to fill positions even when they’re highly selective. It’s not that they’re being too picky, it’s that people who are exceptional across multiple dimensions are genuinely rare. The correlations matter too. If IQ and conscientiousness were strongly correlated, you’d find more people high on both, but they’re basically independent, so being high on one tells you nothing about the other.
This has huge implications for understanding talent pools. A lot of organizations want people who are smart, hardworking, and emotionally stable, but don’t realize how rare that combination actually is. Even “just” being one standard deviation above average on all three puts you in the top 1%. Two standard deviations? You’re literally one in 12,000. The profoundly exceptional finding is wild, one person in 20 million means there are only about 400 such people alive in the entire world right now. This also explains why “well-rounded” high achievers are so valuable, they’re not just good at everything, they’re statistically improbable.
16.27% of the population is above average for all three variables (cutoff z = 0).