professor of experimental and behavioural economics at the Australian

School of Business, has found that people at the lower end of the

competence spectrum in any environment tend to over-estimate their

talents in comparison to those around them. They are over-confident and

unaware of it, a potentially disastrous combination in team leaders. But

Ortmann says that with the right feedback, all but the least competent

people can be calibrated to recognise their actual skills level and

perform better as a consequence. And even the least competent can be

helped, though it may take a lot longer.