Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 26/06/2021

Have you ever worked with people who are not as good as they think? This finding won’t come as a surprise to most of us, but statistically, these people are more likely to be male than female, says organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

In his timely and provocative book “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It),” Chamorro-Premuzic urges us to examine men and ask ourselves why so many incompetent and unqualified men continue to rise as leaders. He asks two powerful questions: Why is it so easy for incompetent men to become leaders? And why is it so hard for competent people – especially competent women – to advance? 

Marshaling decades of research, the author points out that although men make up a majority of leaders, they underperform when compared with female leaders. 

In fact, most organizations equate leadership potential with a handful of destructive personality traits, like overconfidence and narcissism. In other words, these traits may help someone get selected for a leadership role, but they backfire once the person has the job. 

When competent women – and men who don’t fit the stereotype – are unfairly overlooked, we all suffer the consequences. The result is a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom, Chamorro-Premuzic says in his book. 

There is a better way. With clarity and verve, Chamorro-Premuzic shows us what it really takes to lead and how new systems and processes can help us put the right people in charge. 

If we want to improve the competence level of people in leadership, we need to improve our own competence for judging and selecting them, especially when they are men, he says.