The End Of The Line For Incompetent Men?

[Cypress]

The End Of The Line For Incompetent Men?

Trump facing impeachment, Boris Johnson on the ropes, WeWork’s CEO ousted ― is time finally up for bumbling leaders?

Could it be that competence matters?

Maybe! This week the walls started crumbling around some of the business and political world’s worst leaders. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, famous for being rumpled and lying, got smacked down by a unanimous court decision. WeWork founder Adam Neumann, known for outrageous behavior and wild proclamations about ruling the world, was ousted. And, of course, U.S. President Donald Trump moved ever closer to the possibility of impeachment.

Inept male leaders (and it is a male club) have had an especially good run over the past few years: A reality TV star ― with a track record of business failures and misogyny ― made it to the Oval Office. Male startup founders were showered with billions of dollars for inventing things of dubious value. A judge made it to the Supreme Court by throwing a raging tantrum.

It’s hard not to see some gender, race and class dynamics at work here. It’s rare that a woman, a person of color or a working-class anyone gets vaulted into leadership without some track record of competence. Venture capitalists are eager to give money to promising young white men but hold women and minority entrepreneurs to far higher standards. Male politicians get votes based on charm and potential, while female politicians are almost never lauded for those characteristics.

So-called promising men get promoted too quickly, rather than staying put for a few years and learning the ropes, said Elizabeth Stapp, a management professor at the University of Colorado’s business school. And these men are game to take the big jobs before they’re ready.

“Women will decline roles until they’re 100% sure they’ve acquired the skills, whereas men will take the role and learn on the job,” said Stapp. “Men are more inclined to learn as they go.”

She pointed to George W. Bush as a classic example of someone who got way ahead of his skis in terms of capabilities.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/incom...b01c02ca624ec1




editorial comment by cypress - I really do not think a black person, a Hispanic person, a gay person, a female would ever remotely be considered a viable presidential candidate if they were as dim-witted, stupid, uninformed, arrogant, and repulsive as Donald J. Drumpf.

[Jack]

Moscow Mitch.

[OG Yurt]

Ban the OP

[Cypress]

Moscow Mitch.

I can't see George Dumbya Bush ever getting close to the Oval Office if he had been a black man, a Hispanic woman, or a Kenyan-Marxist Pan-African nationalist transgender with a fake birth certificate.

It obviously extends well beyond politics. I might be wrong about this, but white male singers seem to get slack no one else does. Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Tom Petty may have been great song writers - but man, those dudes can barely sing or stay in tune! I am hard pressed to think of any women rock/folk singers who were able to reach the pinnacle of fame in that industry without being able to stay in tune and be a decent singer.

[Jade Dragon]

I can't see George Dumbya Bush ever getting close to the Oval Office if he had been a black man, a Hispanic woman, or a Kenyan-Marxist Pan-African nationalist transgender with a fake birth certificate.

It obviously extends well beyond politics. I might be wrong about this, but white male singers seem to get slack no one else does. Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Tom Petty may have been great song writers - but man, those dudes can barely sing or stay in tune! I am hard pressed to think of any women rock/folk singers who were able to reach the pinnacle of fame in that industry without being able to stay in tune and be a decent singer.

Music isn't really that way. You have all the rappers and talentless pop skanks that sell out.

[Cypress]

Music isn't really that way. You have all the rappers and talentless pop skanks that sell out.

I can't speak to rap and pop, but in my generation there was a distinct expectation that hard rock, metal, southern rock, et. al was a boys club, and girls generally weren't allowed. And that was certainly the case in the amateur wanna-bee headbanger bands I played in.

If a girl had the singing skills of a Lou Reed or Bob Dylan (aka, a singing range of a quarter octave and frequently out of tune), she simply would not be allowed anywhere near the mic. I am hard pressed to think of any prominent female rock singers who made it to the pinnacle of that industry that were not just flat-out great vocalists - Ann Wilson, Janis Joplin, Pat Benatar, Natalie Merchant, Deborah Harry.

Okay, wait... there was Yoko Ono. God, what a nightmare. Worse than a wailing banshee! But that may have been a case of nepotism, because of her relationship to John Lennon.

[cawacko]

Being a real estate guy Adam Neumann and WeWork have been dominating the news. And a number of people have been questioning their business model from the get go (even though the same folks will tell you co-working is here to stay).

But I'm not following how he's an example of the end of incompetent men. Do you really think VC's won't jump on the next "big" opportunity regardless of who is CEO?

The next time a VC that loves an idea but says they won't back it because the CEO is male will be the first.