https://hbr.org/2013/08/why-do-so-many-incompetent-men
tl;dr - Men are more often chosen to lead because they are more likely to have personality defects that are mistaken for competence. The solution is not to have women develop more of these defects, but to stop promoting people with these defects.
This is one of those overly academic sounding articles that's completely lacking in real world knowledge of business culture or women's experience with in it is like. He's arguing gender bias isn't to blame, by using gender bias assumptions to support his point. Circular logic. A more constructive article would be to take gender out of the equation, and write an article on how to recognize "transformational leadership" and ignore misleading personality traits. If his hypothesis is correct, then that's all the criterial we would need for hiring managers to consider promoting some obviously competent women first, right? To list a few: Humble, high emotional intelligence, flexible and creative problem solving, connect with and empower subordinates, etc. Maybe this are good traits but are they the first priority traits hiring managers are likely to consider? Probably not, he could be better at advocating for them.
He loses me with the gender bias pov. He missed a widely accepted view point that women are generally criticized as "abrasive" for displaying leadership traits that are valued in men as assertive. Taking the insights from his article, those women that are promoted for confidence are likely being viewed by a significant number of their peers as being abrasive and incompetent.
Competent women aren't just going to naturally fill a void. There are still many industries that actively discourage women from participation for tons of direct and indirect reasons that aren't addressed by the author. Work culture still needs to be convinced women in general can be great leaders, not just the exceptional ones. Good leaders start with mentors. I would argue a lot of it just comes down to age demographics, women haven't been represented in equally in the workforce for all that many generations in most industries it will take a while to generate enough senior level women to have a talent pool to draw from and build cultural confidence. I can point to maybe 4 senior women role models in my career post college? Young women aren't going to believe roles are possible for them if they don't first see peers leading the way. It won't happen without companies first making a broad a commitment hirer and promote more women regardless of perceived competence! If this author is to be believed plenty of companies are already allowing incompetent men fall upward just fine, simply expand tolerance for leadership failure to both genders 😅 fail fast right?