How do some people make it into very senior roles while being so utterly crap

[StealthPolarBear]

I need to know how it's done :o

It’s the Peter Principle. People are promoted to their level of incompetence.

Ask Chris Grayling. He's written the manual.

Penis.

Daddy dearest greasing the wheels.

But this guy must have been incompetent two levels down :o the main thing he's good at is being incompetent

Ah.... well.... sometimes it's style. Or charm. Liars can be very charming. It's easier to be charming when you aren't constrained by truth.

Someone I know is very personable but can't organise self out of a paperbag. I'd never want him as supervisor again... he just got a prestigious position & I think he'll keep going up. Sometimes incompetents get promoted just to get them out of one's department & become someone else's hapless but personable problem.

I will ask him about his penis. Hell no doubt tell me how nmbusy and impritnat he is for an hour or so while saying nothing of all of substance.

He IS charming. He talks the talk with a very posh accent.

Being a man

The crap one where I work has a lot of confidence to hide her inability. She also sucks up to the boss, who is the only person who thinks she's any good.

I do prefer the Dilbert principle (and UK and Irish employment law enable this)- poor performers are promoted to keep them away from the actual work where they can cause harm.

“Head is Special Projects” is one I encountered recently.

I think it's along the lines that CS Lewis wrote. Something like:

"Then the head's friends saw that she was no good at being a head, so they arranged for her to teach other heads. Then they saw she was no good at that either, so they sent her into parliament where she lived happily ever after." (The Silver Chair)

Went to the right school and is a member of the right clubs

Often they are excellent at an actual role but not the leadership one above

I always wonder this..In most cases that I have been involved with it was a combination of having a Y chromosome, the right look/accent, misplaced confidence/bluster and playing golf with the other high ranking incompetents.

Why do so many incompetent men become leaders - A book on my reading list for quite soon....

I honestly think that a lot of it is being so overly confident (read:stupid) that setbacks that would affect most of us don’t even register. Just keep going and going and eventually you’ll get promoted, even if you’re no good 🤷‍♀️

Gift of the gab

Almost every leader I've worked with has been utterly incompetent, but they talk a good game.

Ha! Yes! When I worked in the corporate world, nice but useless people were either sent off to ‘Special Projects’ or Marketing. They could be safely deposited there with no chance of being a danger to themselves or others. Although people who got moved into special projects were often swiftly given the boot.

I think it’s often because they look the part - both on paper and in person. They have the right pedigree, dress well, are charming and good looking but turn out to be completely thick and utterly incompetent.

I don't get the being a man or penis comments, there's plenty women who rise up whilst being utter crap, I've worked for at least 2.

Gift of the gab is exactly it. Style with no substamce. Doesn't deliver.

I have always wondered this. There's a lot of very clever competent people out there and they definitely aren't always the ones making the big decisions.

They don't listen and don't adapt to change, or understand the real issues.

Often the technically capable will be promoted to management positions when they were always only ever going to be best in their technical positions. They turn out to be appalling managers. See it over and over.

I think sometimes less capable but very confident people are promoted above more capable but less confident ones.
I think there is truth in the idea that people are promoted one level above what they can handle, but stay there.
I think managing people is just hard!

He's way above the managing people level, would have been managing staff three levels below . And yet he comes across very junior, whining about why he's not done stuff as he's been ever so busy with x, y, z

Sometimes stupid people are more confident while intelligent people are plagued by self doubt.

Also, there's "managing upwards", where people only tell those above them what they want to hear. That's poor management, but might get you promoted.