Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?: (And How to Fix It)

This thought-provoking exploration into the reason why there are a lack of women at the top draws upon decades of research on leadership to reveal a deeply flawed system that rewards arrogance rather than humility, and loudness rather than wisdom. Original.
The author considers whether there is a link between the observation that most leaders are bad and that most leaders are male and whether the prevalence of bad leadership would decrease if more women were in charge. He argues that the underrepresentation of women in leadership is not due to their lack of ability or motivation but to the inability to detect incompetence in men and shows how the disconnect between actual leadership talents and assumptions about it allows incompetent men to become leaders. He outlines the key qualities that cause people to become incompetent or good leaders, discussing people’s inability to distinguish between confidence and competence, why narcissists become leaders and the impact on leadership quality and gender imbalance in leadership, how people overrate the importance of charisma, the female advantage of emotional intelligence in leadership, qualities that make leaders more effective, how to evaluate elements of leadership potential, and the effectiveness of coaching and development interventions to improve leaders' performance. Annotation ©2019 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Look around your office. Turn on the TV. Incompetent leadership is everywhere, and there's no denying that most of these leaders are men.In this timely and provocative book, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic 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 rigorous research, Chamorro-Premuzic 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.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.