Being a Good Leader Makes You More Attractive

Harvard Business Review:

Pretty people do better. Whether interviewing for a new job, applying for a promotion, or, in the world of politics, seeking voters’ support, people with good looks tend to reap more rewards. It pays to be physically attractive.

Previous studies bear this out. But, from my own research, which is forthcoming in The Leadership Quarterly,  I’ve discovered that things aren’t so cut and dried, beauty isn’t a fixed trait as many of us tend to believe, and that our perceptions of one’s attractiveness can be enhanced in positive ways depending on the situation.

In two different studies, for example, my colleagues (Brian Wansink of Cornell’s Dyson School, Vladas Griskevicius of the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota, and David Sloan Wilson of SUNY-Binghamton) and I found that people with strong ties to a group or organization (say, a political party or a business) rate their own leaders much higher on a scale of physical attractiveness than do outsiders.

Read the whole story: Harvard Business Review