DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVERS !!! REALLY ?
– www.lesliechoudhury.com
Studies show attractive students get more attention and higher
evaluations from their teachers, good-looking patients get more
personalized care from their doctors, and handsome criminals receive
lighter sentences than less attractive convicts. But how much do looks
matter at work?
The ugly truth, according to economics professors Daniel Hamermesh of
the University of Texas and Jeff Biddle of Michigan State University,
is that plain people earn 5 to 10 percent less than people of average
looks, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent less than those deemed
good-looking.
These findings concur with other research that shows the penalty for
being homely exceeds the premium for beauty and that across all
occupations; the effects are greater for men than women.
A London Guildhall University survey of 11,000 33-year-olds found
that unattractive men earned 15 percent less than those deemed
attractive, while plain women earned 11 percent less than their prettier
counterparts. In their report “Beauty, Productivity and Discrimination:
Lawyers’, Looks and Lucre,” Hamermesh and Biddle found that the
probability of a male attorney attaining early partnership directly
correlates with how handsome he is.
Size matters, too. Now watch what you are thinking ! A study released
last year by two professors at the University of Florida and the
University of North Carolina found that tall people earn considerably
more money throughout their careers than their shorter coworkers, with
each inch adding about $789 a year in pay.
A survey of male graduates of the University of Pittsburgh found that
the tallest students’ average starting salary was 12 percent higher
than their shorter colleagues’. The London Guildhall study showed that
overweight women are more likely to be unemployed, and that those who
are working earn on average five percent less than their trimmer peers.
According to Dr. Gordon Patzer, who has spent over three decades
studying and writing about physical attractiveness, human beings are
hard-wired to respond more favorably to attractive people. Even studies
of babies show they will look more intently and longer at prettier
faces.
“Good-looking men and women are generally judged to be more talented,
kind, honest and intelligent than their less attractive counterparts,”
says Patzer. “Controlled studies show people go out of their way to help
attractive people – of the same and opposite sex – because they want to
be liked and accepted by good-looking people.”
This may not sound too pretty or encouraging to those of us who were
dealt a bad hand in the looks department. But don’t rush off to try out
for the next round of Extreme Makeover just yet. This is not what I am suggesting as cure.
There is more than meets the eye !
Despite what the research tells us, some of the world’s most
successful people have been ordinary looking at best, and you would
never mistake the faces in Fortune for the faces in Esquire or Entertainment Weekly.
Business legends are often of average height (Bill Gates is only at
5’9″, slightly shorter than me !) or even diminutive (Jack Welch, 5’8″,
and Tom Cruise at 5’7+”). What’s more, many folks who are lovely to
look at complain that they lose out on jobs because people assume they
are vacuous or “lightweights.” They suffer the stereo-typing of being
good-looking but nothing up there !
How does this reconcile with all the research? Hiring managers say it is the appearance of confidence
they find attractive, not the presence of physical beauty. And they
contend that attractiveness has more to do with how you carry yourself
and the energy you exude – rather than having perfect features or a
great physique. People whom have closed on interviews or sales pitches,
all exude confidence, energy, and present themselves well. Its what they
wear, how they wear it, how they walk it and yes which leads to how
they talk it !
According to Gordon Wainright author of Teach Yourself Body Language,
anyone can increase their attractiveness to others if they maintain
good eye contact, act upbeat, dress well (with a dash of color to their
wardrobe), and listen well. Wainright also stresses the importance of
posture and bearing and suggests that for one week you stand straight,
tuck in your stomach, hold your head high, and smile at those you meet.
Based on many such experiments, Wainwright predicts you will begin to be
treated with more warmth and respect and start attracting more people
to you.
Whatever it is , whether an interview, a presentation, a date,
people do judge a book by its covers……we are after all human……so with
this knowledge, walk that walk, talk that talk…..do it with style (your
own) , with confidence, and get the respect you rightly fully deserve.
I am living proof of this, I have always tried to dress for the
occasion, dress for the audience that I am presenting to and by God’s
grace have been very successful in all the opportunities presented to
me, be it an interview or closing a deal.
Nelson Mandela clearly held a positive vision of a racially
harmonious South Africa during his 28 years in jail and helped bring it
into reality peacefully– to the amazement of the world. I urge you to
see the movie ‘Invictus’.
