That's where the "what you can do for them" part comes in. It's not the intellect that they care about qualitatively, but the utility and output that it can provide for them. Sure, you could argue that, by extension, it would mean that they care about the trait itself, but that falls apart when it you break it down to skills and actions performed to provide that utility, since a lesser intelligent - but more skilled - individual will replace them.
The point is that people, in general, are results-oriented, and not process-oriented. This is for good reason in most cases. For example, would you really care that a heart surgeon is better than all of his available peers that you have access to, if he has a very bad day due to external factors when he's operating on you? Of course, not. All you care about is the job he does on you, all else be damned.