Cognitive revolution played a huge part in how we interact as groups today. Legends, myths, gods and religions appeared for the first time during the cognitive revolution. So we basically started creating fiction and as a result of that we could weave common myths such as the concept of a country and things like human rights. Such myths give us the ability to cooperate flexibly in large numbers and this is how leaders emerged.
So how are we doing now as leaders? Today the top google search results for ‘my boss…’is very unpleasent. 90% of the people agree their leaders are incompetent. And it is true. Most leaders have very negative effects on their followers and subordinates,causing low levels of productivity,and high levels of burnout and stress.
An organizational psychologist says one of the reasons might be because when we elect our leaders we can’t discern between these two words: confidence and competence. A lot of people right now in leadership are people who have fooled others that they are better than they actually are. And this is not because they are very manipulative but mostly because they fooled themselves too. I’m pretty sure you have worked with people who think they are really good at something, when they’re actually not. Also, statistically,they are more likely to be male than female.Men are typically more deceived about their talents than women are. So there’s a sexism converstion here which I won’t be discussing since we don’t have time but the catch is that they are also more likely to succeed in their careers. So being unaware of your limitations increases your probability of being a boss.
But why did our society start functioning like this ? It’s us.
When we comes to leaders, we tend to gravitate towards leaders who are charismatic and charming We prefer our leaders to be charismatic and fascinating.But in reality, the best leaders are humble rather than charismatic,to the point of even being rather boring.This is why they rarely feature in the media or blockbuster movies.If we want to improve the performance of our leaders,we should start by focusing on the right traits.Instead of falling for people who are confident, narcissistic .We should promote people into leadership because of their competence, humility and integrity. Leaderships should be judged on traits like accountability, empathy. Are they able to convey their message to their team, can they keep a team motivated?
Yes,if they are very charming, give groundbreaking speeches and sweep you off your feet, good. But that alone should not be the criteria of choosing a leader. Look at Elon Musk, that guy can’t speak four sentences without stammering yet he has been successfully leading one of the biggest companies. And anyway we don’t have a good history with people having over the top speaking skills!
Eduindex News 