It is dangerously tempting to think that way - "He is high status because he is good at seeking status, rather than being intelligent" which sort of implies "I am low status because I am intelligent, rather than being good at seeking status".

The only dangerous part there is including the 'because I am intelligent' part, which is obviously fallacious. It would be useful to think "I am (perhaps) low status because I am not good at seeking status". This gives you the necessary information to make your self development decisions.

It would be dangerously naive to continue to have a belief "they have high status because they have high intelligence". This would cause you to continue to develop innapropriate skills if your intention was to gain status. You could, for example, focus on improving rational thought rather than rhetorical flair. Not a status optimising decision.