Godspeed! So did I when I was a corporate agile coach until last year.

My observation: organizations are a microcosm of society, to varying degrees. In hierarchies, ingroup favoritism holds itself to lower standards, thus lowering the barrier of entry to other ingroups members.

More than people will admit, being promoted is far more about optics and likability; far less about merit. “You’re not ready” is often:

• “You make me feel threatened”
• “I don’t really like you”
• “I do like you but I don’t think you’d fit in with the other managers”
• “I like you/don’t like you but you’ll probably have kids in the next couple of years.”
• “I think you’re ready but Bob has been here longer/is older and I care more about upsetting him than you.”

And truly being without merit to be a manager comes after that.

So despite a tendency for women to make better managers and leaders, there’s a disparity. And while people of color are held higher standards for the same work, many will be getting their performance reviews soon and told they’re not ready by managers who can’t perform basic functions of their job but are better at manipulative influence and/or enjoy ingroup favoritism.