"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." - Bertrand Russell
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
61–70 of 167 posts
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#62They become micromanagers not leaders. Its a political problem. When voting is rigged it happens that those who get benefits vote for those incompetent. And those incompetent promise free benefits to obtain votes. Vicious circle.
I'm not sure I agree with this. Are you saying all voting is rigged? Also not all incompetent managers are micro-managers, I have had problems with managers that are uninvolved as well.
It may be possible for a candidate to gain votes by promising free benefits (or even non-free benefits) to their constituents and then actually grant those benefits. I would not describe that situation as a problem because that's exactly how representative democracy is supposed to work.
I don't see how rigged voting implies incompetence or that incompetence implies rigged voting.
Also, I nave never seen a business setting that had elections, rigged or not. In the cases where I have been faced with incompetent managers their constituents (employees/reports) would have voted them out at the nearest opportunity. Is this the rigged system to which you refer?
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#63I've seen incompetent leaders promote other incompetent people to serve them as their ideals are congruent. As in - they don't question the status-quo to make things better and alas their numbers grow stronger. It takes a good concerted effort to take this type of nepotism on.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#64Research shows a very strong correlation between mere height and who ends up at the very height of corporate leadership. It's an ape thing, not a competence thing.
And yet we became humans by being the most competent apes. Perhaps both are true.
I'm not arguing that tall people are better leaders than short people, just that we seem to have such a bias built in and it must exist for some evolutionary reason.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#65It's because of the "Peter principle" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle "employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively"... that's at the "Leader" level for so many.
In a way I find the Dilbert Principle [1] more encouraging because it implies promotion is based on what will improve the overall productivity of the group.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#66Really bad article. Not surprised its coming from HBR. No facts or data to back up what he is saying. How do you measure someone being incompetent? Since when does competence make you a good leader? Author believes CEOs should be selected by having them take a competence and personality test...
Trying to act and plan for an uncertain future as a CEO will make any human (male or female) seem incompetent.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#67I have a confession to make - I'm not a particularly good leader. I don't like managing people, and I'm not terribly interested in learning how to do this. I have seen good managers in action, and have been under a few on occasion; I am not one of these people. I do, however, have some very solid skills and have deployed them repeatedly at the handful of companies I have worked at in the past. My main concern is know…
Abandon the concept of a career and contract? That helps with ageism too.
I'm not sure the concept of a career track exists outside management.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh great, a race and gender discussion based on an internet user's personal opinion. That's going to be fascinating!
I can't wait for the exciting source-based debate (with citations!) that is sure to happen.
Got to admit everytime I see people seriously say something like "current child-rearing practices" I laugh out loud.
I mean, is there a book somewhere that was given to everybody but me? A really popular movie on Netflix that I missed? Man, where was I when "current child-rearing practices" were spelled out.
But seriously there's no such thing. It's a fantasy that exists only in the speaker's head and is projected into the world. It has no basis in reality.
Which is really why people ought to cite sources because nobody cares about your paranoid fantasies.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#69.
Welcome to HN! You sound bitter.
Re: Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (2013)
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the risk of being divisive, this will generally only work if you're white, if you're a minority or a woman, there's way more pushback on all those things, even when you're right. Seen it many times.
First off, this is false. I've seen plenty of races and women succeed unworthily because they talk with extreme confidence. Secondly, are you only talking about the US because you're American? Because there are plenty of other countries in this world, and it's true in all of them.
You say this so confidently, I almost believe it.