I would like to offer a counter point. In military officer training (I haven't done it, but I have friends who have), you are taught that the wrong decision NOW

I would like to offer a counter point. In military officer training (I haven't done it, but I have friends who have), you are taught that the wrong decision NOW is better than the right decision LATER. The reason for this is because hesitation leads to people dying. Now think about evolutionary timescales, a leader was primarily needed for dangerous situations such as hunting dangerous prey and warfare. The same logic applies; hesitation results in death. Blind confidence is a necessary trait to make such quick decisions, to not hesitate, and to not second guess yourself. This may be why we are wired to prefer the "confident" over the "competent." Now, obviously, this is less appropriate in corporate leaders where the stakes are not so immediately life and death, where there is time to research and to examine alternatives. But, we are creatures of our evolution, so it is perhaps not so surprising that is the sort of person we prefer to be our leaders. I think it is important to recognize and remain aware of our biases because that is the only way we have of fighting against them when appropriate.