Recognising Incompetence

Have you ever met someone so wildly incompetent that their mere presence just sinks entire projects, stalls workflows, and absolutely baffles your mind as to how they could live, breathe, and operate in a complex world?

While that was mostly a rhetorical question, I suppose the follow-up question would be: Do such people even know of their incompetency even as they wear a shroud of denial and absolute bliss and dream of Dunning-Kruger every so often?

It is quite the sight to observe social spaces go dead when such people present their visage. You know what I'm talking about–chatty workmates clam up in the presence of said individual(s) as they emanate tendrils that snake their way into every corner of the office and tank an organisation's productivity to new lows never before seen.

I sometimes think that I am that person. But wait, if I can recognise my own incompetence, then surely I am not incompetent–at least not to world ending levels. Ah hah! That must certainly be a loophole.

How would you deal with incompetent people who slip past the hiring mechanisms so designed to catch incompetence? How would you deal with incompetence in yourself and others? Though it is nearly the end of December 2021, this question bugs me to no end. If there is an Oracle, I hope that it appears in my dreams and gives me The Answer.