Leadership and the Human Paradox: What Richard Wrangham Teaches Us

“We are not merely the most intelligent of animals. We also have a rare and perplexing combination of moral tendencies. We can be the nastiest of species and also the nicest.”

About Richard Wrangham

Richard Wrangham is a British primatologist and anthropologist, and Ruth Moore Professor at Harvard University. Known for decades of fieldwork with chimpanzees in Uganda, he explores what makes humans unique among primates. His books — Demonic Males, Catching Fire, and The Goodness Paradox — have shaped our understanding of human evolution, aggression, and cooperation.

1. The Paradox

When we talk about leadership, aggression is rarely invited into the room. It feels impolite, almost primitive — something modern management books prefer to hide behind acronyms and toolkits. And yet, aggression never left us. It is part of human nature, woven into how we organize, compete, and even collaborate.

Anthropologist Richard Wrangham, in The Goodness Paradox, shows that our species has walked a strange evolutionary path: we have “self-domesticated” by curbing raw, reactive outbursts while simultaneously perfecting the art of planned, proactive aggression. In other words, we stopped biting each other’s ears off, only to invent organized war.

What does this mean for leadership and teams today? Simply this: wherever humans gather, aggression will be part of the story — sometimes destructive, sometimes, paradoxically, productive. The challenge for leaders is not to wish it away, but to recognize it, decode it, and shape the culture around it.

2. Wrangham’s Key Theses

Richard Wrangham’s The Goodness Paradox is built on a deceptively simple observation: humans are both unusually gentle and unusually violent. Compared to chimpanzees, we show much lower levels of reactive aggression — those impulsive outbursts of rage that can turn lethal. Ethnographic studies cited by Wrangham indicate that while intra-group killings among chimpanzees can account for up to 30–40% of male deaths, human societies evolved strong mechanisms to suppress such behavior, from social sanctions to collective punishment (Wrangham, 2019).

At the same time, humans excel at proactive aggression — calculated, organized violence. In hunter-gatherer societies, Wrangham notes that a significant share of adult male deaths (often 15–30%) stemmed from planned coalitionary attacks, ambushes, or executions. While chimpanzees also practice coalitionary killing, humans turned it into a social tool, embedding it into culture, warfare, and even justice systems (Wrangham, 2019).

This dual pattern is what Wrangham calls the goodness paradox: by suppressing impulsive violence we became tame enough for trust and cooperation — yet precisely this “domestication” made us specialists in organized, deliberate forms of aggression. Or, put less politely: we stopped brawling in the village square, but became remarkably skilled at planning wars.

“Reactive aggression became suppressed, while proactive aggression stayed high. Language-based conspiracy was the key, because it gave whispering beta males the power to join forces to kill alpha-male bullies.”

The uncomfortable insight is that aggression is not always destructive. Sometimes it is, paradoxically, productive. The coalition against the alpha bully is one example. In modern organizations, it can mean confronting toxic behavior, enforcing boundaries, or calling out abuse of power. Confrontation resets the system so that cooperation can flourish. Wrangham’s anthropology doesn’t only explain our past — it exposes the enduring tension leaders face today.

3. From Evolution to the Office: Translating Wrangham into Leadership

So what does all this evolutionary anthropology mean for leaders today? Quite a lot. Because the patterns Wrangham describes are not just dusty fossils of prehistory — they are alive in every meeting room, every project team, every “high-potential” program.

Alpha dominance doesn’t last

In early human groups, hyper-aggressive alphas were eventually eliminated. In modern organizations, they don’t get speared — they get sidelined, outvoted, or quietly managed out. Command-and-control may deliver quick compliance, but it breeds resistance and covert coalitions. A leader who mistakes fear for loyalty is setting themselves up for the same fate as the caveman tyrant.

Coalitions are the real power base

Wrangham shows how beta coalitions toppled alphas; in today’s workplace, coalitions still decide outcomes. Influence comes less from formal titles than from who trusts you, who is willing to speak up for you, and who has your back in the corridor conversations. Leaders who ignore the coalition-building dynamic misunderstand the actual currency of power.

Self-control is the hidden core skill

Our evolutionary “self-domestication” selected for individuals who could regulate their impulses. The same applies to leadership: shouting matches, angry emails, or sulking in meetings are not displays of strength — they’re regressions. The real authority comes from staying calm when everyone else is losing it. A leader who can absorb conflict without escalating it becomes the stabilizer every team craves.

Teams are paradoxical spaces

Just like human history, every team carries the double potential of cooperation and conflict. On the surface: collaboration, shared goals, smiling group photos. Underneath: envy, status games, silent sabotage. Leaders who pretend this paradox doesn’t exist leave their teams vulnerable to it. Leaders who acknowledge it can guide energy away from intrigue and into performance.

Culture is the leader’s true task

In evolutionary terms, aggression only became productive when the group developed norms to channel it — punishing bullies, rewarding cooperation. The same holds today: a leader’s ultimate job is to design the “rules of the game.” If aggression wins in your culture, you’ll get a war of all against all. If cooperation wins, you’ll get progress.

4. Top 5 Leadership Learnings from The Goodness Paradox

1. Alpha dominance fails

   Aggression may intimidate, but it never sustains authority. Tyrants eventually get toppled — in prehistory with spears, today with exit interviews.

   
   

2. Coalitions are the true power

   Influence doesn’t flow from titles alone. It comes from trust, alliances, and the quiet coalitions that shape outcomes behind the scenes.

   
   

3. Self-control is strength

   Impulse regulation was the evolutionary game-changer. For leaders, calm under pressure is more powerful than any display of temper.

   
   

4. Teams carry a paradox

   They are spaces of deep cooperation and potential intrigue at the same time. Leaders must see both layers, not just the smiling group photo.

   
   

5. Culture decides.

   Aggression only becomes productive when norms channel it. A leader’s real task is to set the rules so that cooperation, not sabotage, pays off.

5. Conclusion: Leadership Beyond the Tools

Leadership is often discussed in terms of methods and skills — and rightly so. But Wrangham’s anthropology reminds us that behind every tool lies a deeper story: human nature itself. Aggression is not an exception to leadership, it is its shadow. It will always surface — in conflicts, in rivalries, in the subtle intrigues of office life.

The task of a leader is not to deny it, nor to fear it, but to recognize its double face: destructive when unchecked, strangely productive when channeled. That requires awareness, self-control, and the courage to shape culture deliberately.

So here’s the question to take with you:When you look at your own team — do you mostly see the forces of cooperation at work, or do you also notice the quieter, more aggressive currents underneath? And what are you doing with them?