All things being equal never really are
Recently, I read a book called Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. It’s a provocative book which asks the question, ‘What if the reason for the lack of women at the top (and the presence of so many incompetent leaders who also happen to be men) is not that there are too many obstacles slowing women’s advancement, but that there aren’t enough career-testing obstacles for men?’ The author goes on to say that overconfidence, excessive risk taking and narcissistic men are rewarded for leadership, but eventually backfires once the individual gets into the job. It’s a very interesting read and made me think when I discovered that one of my summer interns I knew from my workplace had left the industry all together.
At the company I worked, we received a number of interns from all sorts of business schools every semester. I recall having a young man and a young woman from the same business school assigned to shadow me for 4 months. They both had similar start-up work experiences, educational background, GPAs and even similar drive to succeed in the finance industry. Their experience with me was positive enough and they returned for a second internship in separate departments. Upon graduation, they both took entry-level BA jobs. The young man continued to excel and was invited to participate in special projects and even had brief interactions with the CEO’s office. The young woman did not get access to special projects, worked mainly in administration that didn’t allow for much inter-departmental collaboration. In the end, she left for a retail job. So what happened?
What separated the male intern from his peer was his ability to articulate his thought processes and ‘step me through’ his thinking. It was wrong more than half the time, but brainstorming a problem is far more useful than trying to come up with the right answer the first time. Contrast this with the female intern who often waited until an opinion was more informed before offering it.
Both of these ‘kids’ are very smart. Anytime, I spoke of a particular financial or legal concept, they would read up to become knowledgeable that night. Although I never put the two in direct competition, they used their camaraderie as mild competition with each other. But having the knowledge is only half of it. If they can’t ‘play it back’ and demonstrate real world applicability, it’s little different than not having the knowledge in the first place. What separated the male intern from his peer was his ability to articulate his thought processes and ‘step me through’ his thinking. It was wrong more than half the time, but brainstorming a problem is far more useful than trying to come up with the right answer the first time. Contrast this with the female intern who often waited until an opinion was more informed before offering it. In the real world, it is impossible to know everything and we often have to make decisions based on the information we have, so waiting for the full picture before speaking up could result in missed opportunities.
This absence of surety and waiting for things to happen will result in eternal inaction. Heck, even science sometimes isn’t an exact science. At some point, we’re going to have to round up or down, extrapolate or interpolate, fill in the missing piece or go without. There’s always an element of risk and gamble with every decision which draws neither on confidence nor knowledge, but experience—all things both kids lack. And many people are uncomfortable with taking leaps of faith which could result in sub-optimal outcomes so they don’t make a decision at all!
I will never know why the female intern left the industry. She was very capable and has great potential. I hope her quiet confidence doesn’t get drowned out by others’ overconfidence. In whichever vocation she pursues, confidence is going to be most visible skill that comes through first. I hope she leads with that; knowledge and experience will come.
In the end, while both the interns staked out long paths, their vocal and passive approaches will greatly shape the reaction of others who have the ability to make their journeys either a success or a struggle.
