![]() Even simple tests that may initially seem innocuous or ineffective can predict whether someone is likely to be an incompetent leader. For some time now, we have had at our disposal scientifically valid assessments to predict and avoid managerial and leadership incompetence. The good news is that science has found a way to combat this problem. Many competent men are also overlooked for leadership roles because they don’t match our flawed leadership archetypes - meaning, they are perceived as “not masculine enough,” or fail to display the very attributes that make leaders less effective. If the future of leadership were more meritocratic, and managers selected leaders on the basis of their talent and potential rather than Machiavellian self-promotion, reckless risk taking, or narcissistic delusions, we would not just end up with more women leaders, but also with better leaders. Overconfidence is the natural result of privilege. This is partly for biological reasons - gender differences in impulsivity, dominance, and aggressiveness appear in all cultures and from a very early age - but also for cultural reasons. Although it is true that all of us are generally overconfident, men tend to be more overconfident (and arrogant) than women. The one main advantage men have over women when it comes to being picked for these roles is our human tendency to equate hubris and arrogance to talent. To start, those responsible for judging leadership candidates need to improve their ability to distinguish between confidence and competence. Of course, from a fairness standpoint hiring managers could just make it easier for incompetent women to become leaders, but a much better alternative is to instead discriminate more widely against incompetent men, for they are currently overrepresented in such roles. This applies equally to both genders, but for some reason we seem less preoccupied with combating incompetence in men than in women. It follows that the best way to create a positive one is to stop unethical people from rising to the top. Culture, whether good or bad, is just the product of the values and behaviors of our leaders. In an ideal world, those vetting candidates for leadership roles - in both politics and the business world - would make an effort to detect the potential signals of incompetence. But if this is true, who should be responsible for predicting, and ideally mitigating, incompetence in leaders? This means that we cannot realistically rely on those in power to measure their own capabilities. However, a great deal of research has shown that people who are really bad at something rate their own skills as highly as people who are really good at something - mainly due to a lack of self-awareness. Confidence (how good you think you are) is primarily beneficial when it is in sync with your competence (how good you actually are). Neither is it the case that we are better off when leaders have a great deal of confidence. Contrary to popular belief, most people are overconfident rather than underconfident. Few traits are as central to the anatomy of incompetent leadership as arrogance. Whatever way you look at it, the essence of incompetent leadership is easy to define: it is a function of the detrimental effects a leader has on their subordinates, followers, or organization. When I first made this point seven years ago, a large number of people wondered about the meaning of incompetence, especially in connection to leadership. Incompetent leaders are the main reason for low levels of employee engagement, and the prevalent high levels of passive job seeking and self-employment. Consider that the economic impact of avoiding a toxic worker is two times higher than that of hiring a star performer. Whereas competent leaders cause high levels of trust, engagement, and productivity, incompetent ones result in anxious, alienated workers who practice counterproductive work behaviors and spread toxicity throughout the firm. If you want to understand why some companies have a toxic culture, underperform relative to their potential, and eventually collapse - look no further than the quality of their leadership teams.
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