How Do You Identify A Good Manager?

715/2024 Ben Weidmann, Joseph Vecci, Farah Said, Sonia Bhalotra, Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, Jorge Tamayo, David Deming

We introduce and validate a novel approach to identifying good managers. In a pre-registered lab experiment, we causally identify managerial contributions by randomly assigning managers to teams and controlling for individual skill. We find that manager contributions are crucial for team success, and that people who self-select into management roles perform worse than randomly assigned managers. Managerial performance is strongly predicted by economic decisionmaking skill, but not by demographic characteristics. Two validation studies support our experimental results. Participants who succeed in the lab receive more real-world promotions and, in a separate study of retail store managers, skill measures strongly predict store sales. A one standard deviation increase in manager quality increases annual per-store sales by $4.1 million USD (25% increase). Selecting managers on skills rather than demographic characteristics or the desire to lead could substantially improve organizational performance.

Revised January 2026

Culture, Behaviour and Development