As this book will show, traits like overconfidence and self-absorption should be seen as red flags. But instead, they prompt us to say, ‘Ah, there’s a charismatic fellow! He’s probably leadership material.’ The result in both business and politics is a surplus of incompetent men in charge, and this surplus reduces opportunities for competent people—women and men—while keeping the standards of leadership depressingly low.

Overconfidence is the natural result of privilege.

Summing up, if someone has the right intellectual capital, social capital, and psychological capital, they will have more potential to be a good leader. But it’s not guaranteed.

As a consequence, organizations often assume that a leader’s career success reflects his or her performance—the more senior a leader, the more talented the person must be.

Self-awareness, the cornerstone of leadership development, has been valued for thousands of years. The entrance to the temple of Apollo in Delphi was inscribed know thyself. Socrates argued that the essence of his wisdom was to accept his ignorance. Given that people are generally unaware of their limitations, which are exacerbated when they become leaders, leadership development interventions should focus on boosting leaders’ self-awareness. Research suggests that greater self-awareness is a defining feature of high-performing leaders.Accordingly, because good coaching enhances the person’s self-awareness, coaching is often described as systematic feedback.