Developers have a responsibility to users. At no point in human history have so few people been able to reach so many with so little oversight. Yes, we have had mass publishing for more than 500 years. But to reach an audience of millions there would have been dozens of reviewers, fact checkers, editors, and investigators. Now, a very small group, or even a solo developer, can reach their hands into the private lives of millions of people in a matter of days.
Month: November 2013
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?
The real gender issue isn’t a lack of qualified women, but a surplus of unqualified men.
In my view, the main reason for the uneven management sex ratio is our inability to discern between confidence and competence. That is, because we (people in general) commonly misinterpret displays of confidence as a sign of competence, we are fooled into believing that men are better leaders than women. In other words, when it comes to leadership, the only advantage that men have over women (e.g., from Argentina to Norway and the USA to Japan) is the fact that manifestations of hubris — often masked as charisma or charm — are commonly mistaken for leadership potential, and that these occur much more frequently in men than in women.
Yet arrogance and overconfidence are inversely related to leadership talent — the ability to build and maintain high-performing teams, and to inspire followers to set aside their selfish agendas in order to work for the common interest of the group. Indeed, whether in sports, politics or business, the best leaders are usually humble
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In other words, what it takes to get the job is not just different from, but also the reverse of, what it takes to do the job well. As a result, too many incompetent people are promoted to management jobs, and promoted over more competent people.