Choosing Confidence Over Competence in Leadership

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Throughout history, we have favored confident, charismatic, and even narcissistic individuals for leadership roles over competent, humble, and honest individuals. This preference stems from our evolutionary need for tough, brave, and courageous leaders. In today's complex world, we still tend to choose leaders based on superficial qualities, leading to a lack of competence in leadership roles. Research shows that there is a continued association of certain attributes, such as gender, with leadership, as the majority of people tend to envision men as leaders, regardless of the gender they actually think of.

Original broadcast date: April 29, 2022. From workplaces to schools to national governments, leaders everywhere are being called on to solve complex problems with humility and bravery. This hour, we consider what it takes to be a leader. Guests include executive coach Patrice Gordon, organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, former First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, and educator Shabana Basij-Rasikh.

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