Do you ever feel like some of the most incompetent people end up in jobs that they shouldn't have? Maybe it's not even just jobs, but even in social structures. We all knew people in high school who were kind of assholes, but still managed to be "popular" by high school standards. They weren't the smartest kids, they were definitely not the kindest kids, but they still enjoyed the benefits of being part of the in crowd.
At least with that age range, the stature doesn't last. I remember my college roommate, before our senior year, worked on some production line with a high school classmate of mine, who pissed away full athletic scholarships and couldn't hack it in college. When my roomie asked him if he knew me, he told her that I was a loser. Of course she quipped, "Well, at least he is graduating college this year." That was satisfying.
But it does feel like the corporate world seems to elevate an awful lot of people who shouldn't be leaders. Like, a lot. There's a different recipe for failure, and it tends to be pretty lucrative. I can't figure that out, and it's a constant source of ire among people who are not fans of capitalism. CEO's that fail massively but depart with massive payouts are not exactly on anyone's favorite list.
I have some theories about why this is, not the least of which is that the people best equipped to lead often don't want to. I've been kind of intentional about my own level in that respect, because more responsibility isn't necessarily better, it's just more. Admittedly, that's also contextual, because a title like "vice president" doesn't mean the same thing in a company of a thousand people as it does in a company of five. But being a leader requires some amount of hubris and ego in many cases. I'm not saying all leaders are sociopaths, but a non-trivial portion I suspect doesn't have non-selfish motivations.
A part of it is that a lot of people advancing through the ranks are able to do so by way of personality. This problem is less about them, and more about the ecosystems that they work in. Some places just aren't good at recognizing that the loudest people are not the best people. Especially for on-site workers, not missing a day of work doesn't make you awesome, that's just attendance.
I'm concerned that this will only get worse. I mean, almost every department in the federal government is led by someone with zero experience in the field, and you've got a bunch of dumbasses discussing state secrets on public messaging apps. I don't understand this intentional dumbing down of the world, that punishes expertise. The attack on diversity, equity and inclusion, three things that I find hard to imagine people don't want, is also problematic. These movements are not affirmative action, they're intended to prevent discriminatory biases from skipping over people who are in fact most qualified. If you're for a true meritocracy, you can't be against DEI. It's not logical.
I believe in the ideal of a meritocracy, but we've never had one, and it seems we're going further from it. All at the behest of non-experts who say they want it. Weird times.
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