Culture Office

People who want to be managers are often the worst at it. A new UCL-led study backs this up.

The research found that a good manager contributes as much to team output as all their workers combined — a strong counter-argument to recent trends of cutting managerial layers in tech.

The key finding: people who self-select into management perform worse than randomly assigned managers. Douglas Adams saw this coming: the people who most want to rule are least suited to do it.

What actually makes a good manager? Not personality, not demographics, not confidence or people skills. The study points to fluid intelligence and sound decision-making — the ability to balance time, money, and labor against shifting business goals.

The practical implication: stop promoting whoever asks loudest. Measure performance instead. Assign different teams and tasks, see who actually delivers. The study also notes that people who perform well in these kinds of tests receive more real-world promotions — so the signal is real.

One more thing worth noting: women put themselves forward for management roles less often than men, but perform just as well. Given that ambition and competence appear to be inversely correlated in this context, that's worth paying attention to.