Why Incompetent Men Get Promoted
Instead of asking why there are so few women in leadership roles, ask how come so many men get to head companies.
They are well educated, talented and just as hard-working as their male colleagues. So why are they promoted to leadership positions less frequently? Here are the three most popular explanations. The first is that women are not fit to be bosses, the second is that they don’t want to be bosses and the third is that they are fit and want to be bosses, but they cannot break through the glass ceiling, the thick layer of prejudice and stereotypes. But what if each of these options is not true?
The illusion of charisma
Devoid of leadership aptitude? Nonsense. Uninterested in bossing? Not at all. Glass ceiling? It’s there, but it can be broken through. Stefan Stern and Cary Cooper, management experts, believe that the reason for women’s under-representation in management lies elsewhere: they don’t fit the type of person they supposedly need to become to advance high, so they choose to work according to their own principals. Some even leave companies whose practices do not suit them. They prefer their small business to staying in a company with a questionable corporate culture. This has nothing to do with weakness. On the contrary, it can be…
