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Have you ever worked with people
who are not as good as they think?

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(Laughter)

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I know this will surprise you,
but statistically,

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they are more likely
to be male than female.

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(Laughter)

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That's right.

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Men are typically more deceived
about their talents than women are.

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They are also more likely
to succeed in their careers.

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That's because one of the best ways

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to fool other people into thinking
that you're better than you actually are

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is to fool yourself first.

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(Laughter)

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This is why you may not
just have worked with people

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who are not as good as they think,
but also for them.

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Unfortunately, being unaware
of your limitations

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increases your probability
of being a boss.

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(Laughter)

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I'm an organizational psychologist.

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I use science and technology to predict
and understand human behavior at work.

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One of the areas that fascinates me

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is the relationship between
gender, personality and leadership;

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more specifically,
how gender and personality

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shape our choices of leaders

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and how those leaders
then impact organizations.

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Discussions on gender tend to focus

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on the under-representation
of women in leadership,

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which is more or less universal.

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Anywhere in the world -
well, outside Iceland perhaps -

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the vast majority of leaders are male.

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But a bigger problem is the fact that
most of these leaders are incompetent.

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Indeed,

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whether in business or politics,

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most leaders have very negative effects
on their followers and subordinates,

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causing low levels of engagement,
trust and productivity,

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and high levels of burnout and stress.

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Just google "my boss is"

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to see what most people think
of their managers -

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(Laughter)

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and maybe, just maybe,
feel a bit better about your manager:

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(Laughter)

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"Crazy," "abusive," "unbearable," "toxic,"

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and some other things
that are just too rude to repeat here.

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So the main question we should be asking

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is not why there aren't
any more women leaders,

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but why so many incompetent
men become leaders.

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My research suggests
there are three main reasons for this.

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The first is our inability to distinguish
between confidence and competence.

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Anywhere in the world,

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we assume that confident people
have more potential for leadership,

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but in any area of talent,
including leadership,

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there's just very little overlap
between confidence -

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how good people think
they are at something -

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and competence - how good
they actually are at something.

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I grew up in Argentina

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where the gap between confidence
and competence is particularly pronounced.

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(Laughter)

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In fact, one of the best investments
you can make in your life

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is to buy an Argentine for what he's worth

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and sell him for what
he thinks he is worth.

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(Laughter)

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As you can imagine,
I can't crack this joke back home.

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(Laughter)

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We're just not self-aware
enough to find it funny.

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(Laughter)

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Unfortunately, though,

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most leaders have
something Argentine in them,

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in that their self-perceived talents
tend to surpass their actual talents.

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The second reason is our love
for charismatic individuals,

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particularly since the 1960s
mass media explosion -

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but this has been turbocharged
by the recent digital age.

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We appear to want leaders
who are charming and entertaining,

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but there is a big difference

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between an effective leader
and a stand-up comedian.

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(Laughter)

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In fact, the best leaders are humble
rather than charismatic,

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to the point of even being rather boring.

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This is why they rarely feature
in the media or blockbuster movies.

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For example, imagine a movie
on Angela Merkel.

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(Laughter)

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She wakes up,

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has breakfast with her husband,

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goes to meetings well-prepared,

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lets other people talk
without interrupting them,

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(Laughter)

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makes rational decisions,

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runs her country well,

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there are no scandals about her.

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In contrast, there is a surplus
of captivating biopics

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on charismatic leaders
with a fascinating dark side,

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who end up ruining their countries
and organizations.

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The third and final reason
for the rise of incompetent men

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is our inability to resist
the allure of narcissistic individuals,

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people with grandiose
and megalomaniac visions

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that tap into our own narcissism.

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We've always admired famous people,

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but our admiration for people
who admire themselves

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or are famous for, well,
just being famous,

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has been rising for decades.

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At this rate, future generations
will look back at Kim and Kanye and say,

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"Whoa! Weren't they modest?"

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(Laughter)

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Remember Paris Hilton?

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Exactly; she's hardly newsworthy today.

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In line, much of the popular advice

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that focuses on helping
people become leaders

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nurtures and promotes
a narcissistic mindset:

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"Love yourself, no matter what!"

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"Don't worry about
what people think of you.

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If you think you're great, you are!"

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Unfortunately, this creates
a surplus of leaders

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who are unaware of their limitations
and unjustifiably pleased with themselves.

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They see leadership as an entitlement
and lack empathy and self-control,

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so they end up acting without integrity
and indulging in reckless risks.

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In contrast, the best leaders manage
to keep their narcissism in check.

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They care a lot about other people,
including what they think of them,

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and spend a great deal of time
worrying about their reputation,

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which is why there are
very few scandals about them.

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So, how then do we stop
incompetent men from becoming leaders?

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The first solution is to follow the signs

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and look for the qualities
that make people better leaders,

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especially when they don't usually
make people leaders.

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There is a pathological mismatch

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between the attributes
that seduce us in a leader

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and those that are needed
to be an effective leader.

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If we want to improve
the performance of our leaders,

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we should start by focusing
on the right traits.

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Instead of falling for people who are
confident, narcissistic and charismatic,

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we should promote people into leadership

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because of their competence,
humility and integrity.

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Incidentally, this -

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(Applause)

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this would also lead

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to a higher proportion
of female than male leaders -

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(Applause) (Cheers)

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as large-scale scientific studies show
that women score higher than men

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on measures of competence,
humility and integrity.

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But the point is

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that we would significantly improve
the quality of our leaders.

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The second solution
is to distrust our instincts.

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Most of us love our intuition,

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but most people are
just not as intuitive as they think.

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In that sense, intuition
is a bit like sense of humor.

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Ninety percent of people think
they have a fantastic sense of humor.

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How many people are actually funny?

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Ten percent?

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One implication is to focus less

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on the impressions people make
during job or media interviews,

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which are just an invitation
to project our own biases and prejudices.

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Note that even when
we have good intentions,

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it is not easy to overcome this.

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For example, unconscious bias training
will rarely help you ignore

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that the person in front of you
is white, female or attractive.

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In fact, the more you try to suppress
certain thoughts from your mind,

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the more prominent
and present they become.

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So, the last thing we should be doing,

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if we want to improve
the quality of our leaders

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and help more women
get to leadership positions,

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is to not lower our standards
when we select women,

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but to elevate them
when we select male leaders.

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This means not asking women
to behave more like incompetent men.

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For example -

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For example -

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(Cheers) (Applause)

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asking them to lean in

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even when they don't have
the talents to back it up,

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or spend more time on self-promotion
or advancing their own personal interests.

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It also means not ruling out men

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because they lack
the traditional masculine features

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that match our flawed
leadership archetypes.

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To the extent that we can do this,
we will end up with better leaders,

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but progress starts
with each and every one of us.

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If we want to improve
the competence level of our leaders,

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we should first improve
our own competence

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for judging and selecting leaders,

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especially when they're men.

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Thank you.

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(Cheers) (Applause)