None of the Roy children deserve to succeed Logan but I'm hoping it's Shiv

HBO's "Succession" has its series finale on Sunday.

HBO/YouTube

• There are really no good choices for who should succeed Logan Roy in "Succession."
• Shiv might be the best bet because she has the fewest skeletons in her closet.
• She also fakes authenticity — a power move, one expert told Insider.

Let's get this out of the way: All four of the Roy children are rotten, immoral, and entitled narcissists and none of them are even remotely qualified to lead a global company.

That's part of what makes HBO's "Succession" so juicy and compelling. The show revolves around the deeply dysfunctional Roy family and the jockeying to succeed Logan Roy, the recently deceased patriarch played by Brian Cox, as head of the family media empire, Waystar Royco, loosely based on Fox News and News Corp. 

The show's series finale airs Sunday and viewers will finally learn who gets the corner office, the brass ring, or as the staff of Slate so memorably put it, the posthumous "kiss from daddy."

No question: It should be Shiv.

Most intelligent and least reprehensible

Shiv, played by Sarah Snook, is competent, intelligent, and shrewd. She's also the least reprehensible of the main contenders and has the fewest skeletons in her closet. 

Kendall, played by Jeremy Strong, is a tortured soul whose sobriety and sanity remains an open question. He's an egomaniac with daddy issues so deep they rival Hamlet's. He also left a man for dead in season one. 

Roman, played by Kieran Culkin, is sniveling, reckless, and impulsively creepy. He also sent pictures of his genitalia to a senior colleague. Not a good look for anyone in power.

Sarah Snook in the fourth season of HBO's "Succession."

HBO

Meanwhile, Connor, played by Alan Ruck, was never in the running. His focus is on the White House, or, erm, an ambassadorship to Slovenia.

Shiv, on the other hand, is tough, intelligent, and brass-knuckled. "She is seen as less authentic, and that is actually a strength," Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University College London and at Columbia University, told Insider in an email. 

"Authenticity, in the sense of acting without filter or restraint, can be a liability in business," he said. "So the fact that she is seen as someone who fakes authenticity in order to be strategic is actually a power move." 

Shiv being a woman in a sexist and male-dominated industry is no doubt a challenge, but some real-world research suggests it could be a benefit. 

Francesca Gino, a professor at Harvard Business School — and avid "Succession" watcher — has conducted research that shows how women leaders have superior relational skills. They tend to be better at nurturing trust and highlighting commonalities between stakeholders, which results in them resolving conflicts more quickly. 

"Shiv seems to be a person who gets relationships," Gino told Insider. "She's savvy. She has strong emotions but she's also reasonable. She seems a little more thoughtful compared to her brothers."

True, Shiv has spent the least amount of time at Waystar, but that, too, could be an advantage, Kevin Groves, professor at Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School, told Insider. "She is someone that has a deep understanding of the company culture but also brings somewhat of an outsider's perspective," he said. "She's someone who could contribute new ideas and is not so set in the old ways of how the company operated under Logan."

Of course, with all the attention we pay to the backbiting Roy family, there are perhaps even more titillating nepotistic dramas playing out in real life. Take, for example, the kids of Bernard Arnault, the world's richest person and the head of the luxury behemoth LVMH, who is auditioning his progeny over their roles in the company whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Fendi, and Tiffany & Co., to name a few.

The media baron and inspiration for Logan Roy, Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp, also has stirred speculation over which of his children might succeed him at the top of the home of Fox News.

In the meantime, we're rooting for Shiv, with full knowledge that twisty turns are likely. Chamorro-Premuzic, the author of "Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It)," said that it wouldn't surprise him if an outsider — including Cousin Greg, played by Nicholas Braun — ultimately won out. 

"Greg represents the hyperrealistic case study of the mediocre man failing upwards," he said.

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