Uncovering the Truth: Genuine Skill or Did They Just Climb the Social Ladder?

After being around the private equity sector for 7 years, I would say 5% or less of general partners actually are true experts in their field. The majority are people who spent their efforts climbing the social ladder.

Why this is true is because climbing the social ladder instead of gaining skill is what gets them the rewards quickly.

These people get social proof by associating with established people and then they become assumed as good without actually having the skill necessary. It's human nature for people to assume skill based on who you associate with instead of putting in the effort to truly examine if a person has the skill.

It's a rare person who has both the skill and social ladder climbing ability.