All posts tagged: Science

The «Real Men» Dilemma: Why Leaders Struggle to Say «I Don’t Know»

Lead­er­ship has long been entwined with tra­di­tion­al mas­cu­line norms. The ide­al leader is often seen as deci­sive, strong, in con­trol, and emo­tion­al­ly sto­ic – traits stereo­typ­i­cal­ly cod­ed as male. In fact, clas­sic research found peo­ple implic­it­ly asso­ciate lead­er­ship with being male («think man­ag­er, think male»). Many orga­ni­za­tions still oper­ate like a «mas­culin­i­ty con­test» cul­ture. Some core unwrit­ten rules of this old-school mas­cu­line code include:

Inequality is a Choice—And We Keep Making the Wrong One

In three weeks, Ger­many will vote. When I decide where to place my vote, one thing mat­ters most: Which par­ty rep­re­sents a vision of soci­ety that acknowl­edges a fun­da­men­tal truth—who we become is large­ly shaped by cir­cum­stances beyond our con­trol. Our intel­li­gence, resilience, and tal­ents may feel per­son­al, but they are, to a sig­nif­i­cant extent, the result of fac­tors we nev­er chose: our genet­ics, the qual­i­ty of our edu­ca­tion, the finan­cial secu­ri­ty of our par­ents, the coun­try we were born in. Even our abil­i­ty to work hard and per­se­vere is shaped by ear­ly child­hood expe­ri­ences and social conditioning.