In 2023, John Allan, former chair of the board of the UK supermarket chain Tesco, quit amid sexual misconduct allegations. He denied the charges.
He also shared some “pearls of wisdom” following the harassment claims
“A lot of men say to me they’re getting increasingly nervous about working with women, mentoring women.”
The silver lining of the high visibility of Allan’s misconduct allegations and subsequent remarks was that it brought to the surface a long-overdue discussion about how women get less mentoring and sponsorship from men. In particular, men in power.
But to me, the highlight was the article Men, are you nervous working with women? written by three men reflecting on Allan’s assertion that working with women is “complicated.”
More specifically, I had an aha moment reading journalist Nick Curtis’s remark
“I’m happy to admit that I’m a beta male, in a world where men such as Andrew Tate and Boris Johnson — and probably captains of industry like Allan — consider themselves alpha dogs.”
It has been bubbling under my consciousness since I read it and, when recently we discussed the merits of beta software releases at work, two questions formed in my mind
- What could leadership learn from the beta release process?
- How would workplaces — and the world — change if we had “beta” leaders?
But first, let’s recap where the term “alpha leadership” comes from and what it means.
Alpha Animals
A dominance hierarchy is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system.
A dominant higher-ranking individual is sometimes called an alpha, and a submissive lower-ranking individual is called a beta.
Attributes of alpha animals in some species are
- Preferential access to food and other desirable items or activities.
- Privileged entitlement to sex or mates to the extent that, in some species, only alphas or an alpha pair reproduce.
- Some may achieve their status by superior physical strength and aggression but also by being the parent of all in their pack.
We find examples of alpha species in primates, birds, fish, seals, and canines.
The Alpha Myths
There are many misunderstandings — and lies — about the alpha role in the animal kingdom.
First, there are also female alphas. Examples are lemurs and hyenas. Moreover, every primate group has one alpha male and one alpha female. In bonobos, the alpha at the top of the community is a female.
Second, the idea that wolf packs are led by “alpha” males came from studies of captive wolves in the mid-20th century. New studies of wolves in the wild have found that most wolf packs are families, led by the breeding pair, and bloody duels for supremacy are rare.
Moreover, Frans de Waal, the primatologist and ethologist who popularised the term “alpha male” in his book “Chimpanzee Politics,” was keen on dispelling the misunderstanding that alpha males are not synonymous with bullies.
- In his TEDx talk The surprising science of alpha males, de Waal explained that in chimpanzee societies, the smallest male in the group can be the alpha male if he has the right friends and keeps them happy or has female support.
- It’s very stressful to be an alpha male because you have to defend your position.
- They have the obligation to keep the peace in the group and be the most empathic member. Interestingly, alpha male chimpanzees provide security for the lowest-ranking members of the group and comfort for all members. That makes them extremely popular and stabilises their position.
- The group is usually very supportive of males who are good leaders, and it’s not supportive at all of bullies.
In summary, in the animal kingdom, alpha males benefit from preferential access to females and food and, in primates, and they’re accountable for keeping the peace and comforting their group in times of distress.
Alpha Human Leadership
However, that message has not been transferred to the concept of being an “alpha leader” when talking about humans. Instead, many of us equate the term to being all at once “successful-overachiever-bully-workaholic-male-egocentric-boss”.
Whilst dictators are automatically labelled as “alpha leaders,” we have many “democratic” leaders that fit the description too. From the tech perspective, figures like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Travis Kalanick, and Peter Thiel come to my mind when I think about “alpha male leaders”.
However, given those connotations, we may think most leaders don’t want to be classified as “alpha.” Wrong.
Throughout my career, I’ve met many people proud of claiming their “alpha” status — male and female. The reason? Because the term is so ill-defined it enables leaders to “pick and choose” attributes as they see fit.
And scanning Google doesn’t help clarify matters.
The misogynist Andrew Tate has dubbed himself “high status” and an “alpha male”. He has co-opted this term as his brand to mean “strong and successful men who believe in male supremacy and violence against women.” And it sells.
When “transferring” the alpha animal concept to humans, leadership management and consultancies put the accent on dominance, priority access to essential resources, hierarchy, aggressiveness, and protection from external threats.
The results? Those traits get “beautified” — alpha leaders are perceived as decisive, self-confident, assertive, charismatic, risk-taking, good networkers, and high-achievers.
The social and behavioural rules of animals can be clearly transferred to leaders in the business world.
“Alpha animals” in the business world is a metaphor used to describe dominant, influential, and highly successful individuals or companies that lead their industry.
Morgan Phillips Group, Recruitment and Talent Consulting Services
The statistic that “70% of all senior executives are alpha male” is pervasive throughout the internet.
From coaching services to Harvard Business Review (HBR), everybody appears to quote the number and idolise those “super-humans.” Often, being “alpha” is presented as a “natural” or “inherent” trait.
Highly intelligent, confident, and successful, alpha males represent about 70% of all senior executives. Natural leaders, they willingly take on levels of responsibility most rational people would find overwhelming.
[…] it’s hard to imagine the modern corporation without alpha leaders.
What’s the problem with alpha leaders then? Their teams!
many of their quintessential strengths can also make alphas difficult to work with. Their self-confidence can appear domineering. Their high expectations can make them excessively critical. Their unemotional style can keep them from inspiring their teams.
Apparently, if the “beta” people were not so picky, the alpha’s life would be much better…
Female Alpha Leaders
As for female alpha leaders, HBR is skeptical…
In our work with senior executives, we’ve encountered many women who possess some of the traits of the alpha male, but none who possess all of them.
The reasons?
Women can be just as data driven and opinionated as alpha males and can cope with stress equally well, but the vast majority of women place more value on interpersonal relationships and pay closer attention to people’s feelings.
Women at the top are generally comfortable with control and being in charge, but they don’t seek to dominate people and situations as alpha males do. Although equally talented, ambitious, and hardheaded, they often rise to positions of authority by excelling at collaboration, and they are less inclined to resort to intimidation to get what they want.
As we can see, valuing interpersonal relationships, collaboration, and avoiding resorting to intimidation excludes women from that selective club of natural-born alpha leaders.
Alpha Leaders Bottom Line
Coaches and consultants are happy to both venerate and offer help to alpha male leaders to perform even better.
Their solution? “Teach” those leaders to
Admit vulnerability, accept accountability not just for his own work but for others’, connect with his underlying emotions, learn to motivate through a balance of criticism and validation, and become aware of unproductive behavior patterns.
Following that rationale, this implies that 70% of senior executives
- Don’t admit vulnerability
- Don’t accept accountability for their team’s work
- Don’t connect with their emotions
- Don’t balance criticism and validation
- And are unaware of their unproductive behaviour patterns
What could go wrong?
Other Leadership Styles
As for the alternatives to alpha male leadership, there have been two main approaches.
The Mutating Leader
Some research suggests that the most effective leaders adapt their style to different circumstances.
For example, using coercive leadership when handling a crisis but adopting a coaching style when developing people for the future.
In theory, it sounds reasonable and many leadership consultancies are making money with it.
In practice, it’s extremely tough to implement. Why?
- Leaders are human beings and they tend to fall into their most comfortable style.
- Behavioural science experiments have shown us that having many options may trigger analysis-paralysis rather than better choices. For example, being presented with choosing one among 100 different jam flavours often results in no choice at all. Same with leadership styles.
The Virtuous Leader
The other take has been to develop new leadership models that aim to be more team-focused and where the leaders play a role more akin to facilitators than guides and decision-makers.
That’s the case of servant leadership, “based on the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Leaders with this style serve their team and organization first. They don’t prioritize their own objectives.”
The problem?
Those aspirational leadership models are geared towards idealised selfless superheroes. Why?
- Leaders need incentives like anybody else — asking them to always prioritise the group over themselves can only lead to dissatisfaction and burnout.
- We don’t like authenticity in leaders—indeed, we may appreciate that our CEO remembers our name and role and shows care when they announce layoffs. But the truth is that if our CEO lost a child and kept bringing it up in meetings for a year, we’d deem them not fit for work and search for a replacement.
- Democracy serves to a point — when COVID-19 hit, many people looked up to government leaders for guidance. In those uncertain times, “alpha male leaders” used simple messages and authoritarian decisions to feed that need. The fact that former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s three-word slogans about Brexit and the pandemic — duly tested by focus groups — epitomised leadership for many people tells us a lot about how democracy is divorced from leadership in our minds.
* * *
What if instead of trying to imperfectly replicate the animal kingdom, we’d look at software development for clues into leadership?
After all, didn’t the “agile” software development methodology take organisations by storm almost a decade ago?
Software Development: Alpha and Beta Versions
For over 20 years, I’ve worked for companies that develop software for scientists, researchers, and engineers, both on-premise and Saas (software-as-a-service).
As in many other software companies, our applications follow a release lifecycle with several distinct stages such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the final version, or “gold”, is released to the public.
I’m sure you noted the mention of “alpha” and “beta” above. But what does that mean in software development?
Pre-alpha refers to the early stages of development, when the software is still being designed and built.
Alpha testing is the first phase of formal testing, during which the software is tested internally.
Beta testing is the next phase, in which the software is tested by a larger group of users, typically outside of the organization that developed it. The beta phase is focused on reducing impacts on users and may include usability testing.
After beta testing, the software may [be] refined and tested further, before the final version is released.
There are critical differences between alpha and beta releases
Alpha software may contain serious errors, and any resulting instability could cause crashes or data loss [and] may not contain all of the features planned for the final version.
A beta phase generally begins when the software is feature-complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs.
The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts on users, often incorporating usability testing. [It] is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
So unlike a beta release, an alpha version is not “good enough” to get feedback from users. And that’s crucial difference.
I’ve been part of software releases with and without external beta testing and, invariably, those with external beta releases have produced applications of higher quality.
Moreover, even an “internal” beta release has delivered valuable insights, providing feedback from the field teams — pre-sales, services, and support.
Whilst this may look like a no-brainer, it’s all the opposite.
Running a beta testing takes time, effort, and resources. It also requires vulnerability, commitment, collaboration, and belief in the value of the end goal because
- It takes courage and humility for R&D and product management to put their “baby” — aka buggy application — out there for feedback instead of simply considering that they know what’s best for users.
- Beta users understand that they’ll spend time performing tests on a non-production application — so they likely won’t be able to use the results — and that even while their input is appreciated, some of their suggestions won’t make it into the final product.
- R&D has limited resources so they know they’ll have to make tough decisions about the feedback they receive — what will be fixed and implemented versus what will not. And they’ll be accountable for those choices even if they disappoint users.
Not bad for a piece of code, is it?
Beta Leadership
What can leaders learn about what it takes to run a successful software “beta” testing? A lot.
- Willingness to admit that there are opportunities for improvement.
- Seeking and valuing external and internal stakeholders’ opinions about key decisions.
- Learning from feedback.
- Communicating clearly their expectations about how their teams should contribute to the success of the organisations’ objectives.
- Transparency about balancing resources, time, and results.
- Prioritising competing demands to maximise overall benefit.
- Taking responsibility for the final decisions and — more importantly — the outcome.
What would the world be like if we embraced “beta leadership”?
Beta Societies
I posit that beta leadership would make patriarchy lose ground.
Men and young boys would find less appealing toxic stereotypes that equate leadership to achieving female submission and degrading others.
Women would expect leaders to show they value them by finally addressing gender violence, gender pay gap, unpaid care, and bodily autonomy.
Beta Workplaces
Phenomena such as mansplaining, micromanagement, weaponised incompetence, condescension, authority bias, and the highest-paid person’s opinion (HiPPO) effect are a few of the symptoms of a workplace that worships alpha leadership. Leaders who seek feedback are perceived as fragile and insecure.
With beta leadership, traits such as collaboration and empathy that today are considered “female” and regarded as weaknesses would be embraced as attributes of good leadership.
Teams would trust leaders who seek their opinions to make decisions knowing that those leaders may decide against their recommendations as they take responsibility for the outcomes and communicate clearly in their decision-making process.
Beta Investing
Since 2001, when Barber and Odean published the study “Boys Will Be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment,” research has consistently produced solid evidence supporting that women are better investors than men.
The reasons? Men rank higher than women in two key areas that lead to their lower performance: overconfidence and overactivity. The former, Barber and Odean posit, leads to the latter.
What would beta investing look like? More prudent and thoughtful.
Which in turn would result in
- Less volatile markets
- Less focus on hype assets
- More long-term investing
What’s not to like?
Let’s Be More Beta
We’ve been sold lies about leadership:
- “Evolutionary” arguments defending alpha leadership as the permission to bully, control, and destroy others.
- Empathy and collaboration disregarded as top leadership skills.
- Leadership seen as a “natural” trait.
That has given us the government and tech leaders we have:
Overconfident · Toxic · Disrespectful · Patronising · Irresponsible
It’s not working. It’s time for change.
Let’s embrace beta leadership.
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