Black CEO's who look 'non-threatening' are more likely to successful
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Huruma
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The Babyfaced Black CEO Phenomenon
Discovering that African-Americans who run big corporations tend to look especially nonthreatening.
More than 95% of the leaders of America's 500 largest companies ranked by revenue are white and male. The dearth of minority representation in upper management has been attributed to a number of causes, including economic disadvantage, which limits access to the educational, cultural and social capital needed for getting up the corporate ladder, and majority groups clinging to social hierarchies that preserve their status, power and privilege, thus locking minorities out of positions of power.
I recently conducted a study to find out what we can learn about the relatively few African-Americans who do manage to ascend to positions of senior leadership. Together with Nicholas Pearce, a Kellogg School of Management doctoral student, I asked a total of 127 non-black participants to rate photographs of some black and white chief executive officers from the 500 largest companies. We paired 10 black male CEOs with 10 white male CEOs who served before or after them at the same corporations. In addition, we included 10 white female CEOs paired with a random set of 10 white male CEOs.
The participants were asked to rate all 40 CEOs on their appearance of interpersonal warmth and what we called "babyfaceness." We allowed some of the participants to rate the photographs on a 1 to 4 scale based on their own subjective perception of what a babyface was. We gave others specific scientific definitions and a training session on what a babyface was before they did their ratings of each face on a 1 to 4 scale. The results were the same for both groups.
Babyfaceness? It was our hypothesis that black leaders who are so successful must possess not only impeccable credentials, proven competence and tireless diligence, but also what we call "disarming mechanisms"--physical, psychological or behavioral traits that lessen perceptions of threat, fear, envy or resentment. Disarming mechanisms send a message: I am not a danger to you. I am not a barbarian breaching the gates of Rome. Disarming mechanisms come in many forms, but we specifically examined whether the physical trait of babyfaceness is related to the success of black male leaders.
What is a babyface? It is a round face with a larger forehead, a small chin, full cheeks and other characteristics that are exaggerated in infants. Evolution has equipped us with so powerful a response to babies' cherubic faces that our reaction spills over beyond baby humans to include puppies, kittens, chicks and other baby-like faces in the animal kingdom. We can find their cuteness almost irresistible.
This evolutionary tendency is so strong that we extend these feelings to full-grown adults who happen to have ? features suggestive of those of a baby. The Brandeis University psychologist Leslie Zebrowitz and her colleagues have labeled this phenomenon the "babyface over-generalization effect," and their decades of research have shown that babyfaced adults are commonly presumed to be more warm, trustworthy, docile and innocent than more mature-faced adults. They also are treated with greater patience, tolerance and sensitivity. Zebrowitz has found that babyfaced offenders tend to receive more lenient sentences than others for certain types of crimes.
On the other hand, there are costs that come with engendering such tenderness. Babyfaced adults are sometimes perceived as being weak and incompetent. Indeed, research has found that babyfaceness is a liability for white males seeking high positions of leadership. However, we hypothesized that a babyface would benefit black leaders, by increasing warmth and tolerance toward them and reducing negative emotions whites sometimes have about blacks.
Research has shown that there is no difference in the average babyfaceness of blacks and whites in general, but our results, forthcoming in Psychological Science, indicate that black male chief executives are significantly more babyfaced than white male chief executives. Also, our respondents judged black CEOs to appear warmer than white CEOs, even though they rated blacks as a group as less warm than whites. Furthermore, the more babyfaced a black CEO was, the more likely he was to lead a more prestigious corporation and earn a higher salary than a less babyfaced black CEO.
What do these results mean? What they don't mean is that successful black leaders get where they are based on their looks alone. To put this in perspective, consider the relationship between height and power. It is a known fact that taller people are perceived as more powerful than shorter ones. It is also well-established that U.S. presidents (and CEOs) are on average significantly taller than most men. Nonetheless, it would be simpleminded and wrong to assume that one could make it to the Oval Office based on height alone. Napoleon didn't let a little thing like height thwart his quest for world ? . Clearly there are other, bigger ways to convey power.
Likewise, there are multiple ways to be disarming. A babyface is merely one disarming mechanism. Blacks can seem less threatening to whites through how they dress, their manner of speech, their nonverbal behavior, having mixed racial ancestry or even adopting more mainstream ideologies.
Are these findings generalizable beyond the boardroom, or even beyond the small sample of CEOs we examined? Unfortunately, 10 was the entire population. There were no more black CEOs to include. Nevertheless, we believe that the general findings extend beyond these individuals. We have received e-mails and comments from many black male leaders indicating that their real-life experiences echo our findings that black leaders are required to be warm as well as competent.
One could argue that Colin Powell (who incidentally has a babyface) was the warm, amicable, level-headed contrast amid the brash, hot-headed, confrontational leadership of the Bush administration. The imperious trio of Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney all showed anger, were defiant, issued ultimatums and even used verbal profanity, with no threat to their careers or professional standing. Not only was such behavior tolerated, it was relished as a sign of strength and competence--and helped win them a second term.
We saw a similar asymmetry between the behavior of Barack Obama (who is not babyfaced per se but has big ears that lend him a disarming adolescent quality) and that of John McCain, during the 2008 presidential campaign. It is unlikely Obama would have been forgiven the kind of angry displays that McCain seemed to get away with. This is not to say that Powell and Obama are passive or incompetent leaders; Powell was arguably the most competent member of Bush's inner circle. But we do posit that blacks are constrained to a style of leadership that does not allow them to flaunt power or exert dominance the way white males so commonly do.
The take-home point is that even though the playing field is more level today than ever before, unique challenges and double standards still confront black leaders. Black leaders must be highly attuned to interpersonal dynamics as well as to the tasks they must do. White males have to attend to interpersonal concerns, too, of course, but they have more latitude to ignore them if the situation seems to demand it. Our findings are both descriptive and prescriptive. They indicate that black leaders are more likely to possess features that indicate warmth than white leaders in similar roles, and they suggest that such features benefit black leaders but not white leaders. They also suggest that blacks with executive ambitions can always benefit from the employment of disarming mechanisms. As Claude Steele, the African-American incoming provost of Columbia University once wrote, you can sometimes go a long way by "whistling Vivaldi."
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/07/babyface-black-ceo-leadership-ceonetwork-study.html
Comments
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What do studies say about the success rate between white non-threatening looking male CEOs vs. white threatening looking male CEOs? I'm sure the outcome would be the same.
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jay z.......lions,tigers,bears....all can be scary.....camels,not so much
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To paraphrase, don't walk around with a mean mug. And if you're a ? scary dude (that looks like he will ? your precious white daughter), talk like a softy and have pearly whites.
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I didnt read it yet.,. but i agree.. you can see it in all facets of life.. whether you are an anchor/tv host/Football coach/ president.. its not just the look its the vibe and overall demeanor.. its observations that i have mad since forever
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oliverlang wrote: »What do studies say about the success rate between white non-threatening looking male CEOs vs. white threatening looking male CEOs? I'm sure the outcome would be the same.
Indeed, research has found that babyfaceness is a liability for white males seeking high positions of leadership. However, we hypothesized that a babyface would benefit black leaders, by increasing warmth and tolerance toward them and reducing negative emotions whites sometimes have about blacks.
They indicate that black leaders are more likely to possess features that indicate warmth than white leaders in similar roles, and they suggest that such features benefit black leaders but not white leaders.
Also,
But we do posit that blacks are constrained to a style of leadership that does not allow them to flaunt power or exert dominance the way white males so commonly do. -
Indeed, research has found that babyfaceness is a liability for white males seeking high positions of leadership. However, we hypothesized that a babyface would benefit black leaders, by increasing warmth and tolerance toward them and reducing negative emotions whites sometimes have about blacks.
They indicate that black leaders are more likely to possess features that indicate warmth than white leaders in similar roles, and they suggest that such features benefit black leaders but not white leaders.
Also,
But we do posit that blacks are constrained to a style of leadership that does not allow them to flaunt power or exert dominance the way white males so commonly do.
Interesting. I'd still like to see those studies they are referring to. All the successful white CEOs I've seen, and those that are most successful and are white are not threatening at all (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, etc). I don't think having a threatening appearance works in your favor, unless you are the CEO of the mob. Personally, I wouldn't want to work for anyone who has a threatening appearance...white or black. -
Whats a threatening appearance?
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oliverlang wrote: »good question...
Im assuming their "presence"... and the perception that people may have.. of that "appearance" -
Whats a threatening appearance?
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black and white example for ya -
bankrupt baller wrote: »
black and white example for ya
lol at zeus...and smh at al davis...he really needs to give it up. -
oliverlang wrote: »lol at zeus...and smh at al davis...he really needs to give it up.
I hope you're referring to LIFE in general here... -
WATCH IToliverlang wrote: »lol at zeus...and smh at al davis...he really needs to give it up.
Al Davis note: last year the topic of his age came up during some press conference, and he mentioned how his mother lived to an advanced age (i think 100 or more) and said he'd go "when they let him go." WHO IS THE 'THEY'? -
WATCH IT
Al Davis note: last year the topic of his age came up during some press conference, and he mentioned how his mother lived to an advanced age (i think 100 or more) and said he'd go "when they let him go." WHO IS THE 'THEY'?
Illumanti.. in exchange for life.. he has to have the apperance of the living dead.. and AL aint goin till he wants to go .. its in his contract -
WATCH IT
Al Davis note: last year the topic of his age came up during some press conference, and he mentioned how his mother lived to an advanced age (i think 100 or more) and said he'd go "when they let him go." WHO IS THE 'THEY'?
LOL al davis is a o.g.
