Decent intelligence + quality mentoring + buttloads of elbow grease = GENIUS!
It looks like the time has come to reevaluate the concept of what a genius is. Turns out that it isn't a state of mind or some special endowment of characteristics such as intelligence or even a hard working attitude. To be an innovative master (that is to say, a genius), you do need at least average intelligence, of course. But those who've looked at the issues have noticed that even in cases like Mozart, precocious as he was, genius is a result of a smart person with good instruction who then works hard to get to the top. Whether its athletics (look at Tiger Wood's history and then try to argue that he was inherently destined to be a golf genius) or music (Mozart's best stuff didn't come until later, in spite of his amazing talents from a young age). It takes at least a decade, in general to rise to the level of genius/ master.
The potential for genius is in most (or at least half) people. What most lack is the mentoring support and the personal drive to excel. What I got most out of the article, though, was that it is a perfect recipe for parenting: Support and mentor your children, encouraging hard working attitudes while providing exposure to a variety of topics so that they can find that which motivates them. That's what I'm trying to do, at least.