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> Male competitiveness plays a huge role in the corporate world, and is a reasonable explanation for why the top of the hierarchy is naturally dominated by male

> Male competitiveness plays a huge role in the corporate world, and is a reasonable explanation for why the top of the hierarchy is naturally dominated by males Could you foresee this being a problem? Such as the best person for a job being passed over for someone more competitive/in the club? I also refer you to the observed effects of testosterone in financial markets (riskier trades, bubbles) which are typically seen as pathological. Personally I’m not extremely competitive but do suffer from the ‘testosterone-overdose’ fairly regularly which usually involves impulsivity and rashness.

rybosworld 5y ago
> Could you foresee this being a problem? Such as the best person for a job being passed over for someone more competitive/in the club? If we aim for meritocracy, then yes it's definitely an issue. The most competitive males tend to have lots of negative personality traits (e.g. low empathy). That is to say: It's very often not the smartest/most creative people that make it to the top. It's the most cutthroat.
- bombcar 5y ago
  It's the same reason that most multi-billionaires share similar traits, those without those traits often bail out when they're comfortably multi-millionaires and so never have a chance to get to the very top.
- seneca 5y ago
  This is only true if you presuppose that being cut throat isn't a merit. An attribute being distasteful doesn't mean that attribute doesn't make the holder better adjusted to some environments.
  - rybosworld 5y ago
    Right - I guess my point is that competitiveness in of itself is not useful. Competitiveness is really just motivation/drive. It's important and necessary and we can use it to reach our goals. But competitiveness for competitiveness-sake leads to bad things. Other people are harmed along the way, shareholders don't make as much money as they could, etc.
  - Damogran6 5y ago
    It's a merit for the fewest number of people. Not to get all socialism on this. Cutthroat certainly moved advancement forward by leaps and bounds (industrialization, Dot Com, etc.) but it comes with an awful lot of drawbacks at the same time (Pollution, Taking disproportionate advantage of the workforce, making evil decisions because 'it's cheaper to pay the family of the deceased than it is to fix the problem')

rybosworld 5y ago

> Could you foresee this being a problem? Such as the best person for a job being passed over for someone more competitive/in the club? If we aim for meritocracy, then yes it's definitely an issue. The most competitive males tend to have lots of negative personality traits (e.g. low empathy). That is to say: It's very often not the smartest/most creative people that make it to the top. It's the most cutthroat.

bombcar 5y ago
It's the same reason that most multi-billionaires share similar traits, those without those traits often bail out when they're comfortably multi-millionaires and so never have a chance to get to the very top.
seneca 5y ago
This is only true if you presuppose that being cut throat isn't a merit. An attribute being distasteful doesn't mean that attribute doesn't make the holder better adjusted to some environments.
- rybosworld 5y ago
  Right - I guess my point is that competitiveness in of itself is not useful. Competitiveness is really just motivation/drive. It's important and necessary and we can use it to reach our goals. But competitiveness for competitiveness-sake leads to bad things. Other people are harmed along the way, shareholders don't make as much money as they could, etc.
- Damogran6 5y ago
  It's a merit for the fewest number of people. Not to get all socialism on this. Cutthroat certainly moved advancement forward by leaps and bounds (industrialization, Dot Com, etc.) but it comes with an awful lot of drawbacks at the same time (Pollution, Taking disproportionate advantage of the workforce, making evil decisions because 'it's cheaper to pay the family of the deceased than it is to fix the problem')