Muscles Boost Leadership Image

Want to be seen as a leader? Muscle up. That’s the message from researchers at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, where experiments have shown that a muscular physique might just be an important attribute when it comes to judging a person’s leadership potential. A imagesUC Berkeley news release reports that the experiments first measured the strength of various men using a handheld, hydraulic Dynamometer that measures chest and arm strength in kilograms or pounds.  Next, each man was photographed from the knees up in a white tank shirt to reveal his shoulder, chest, and arm muscles, controlling for reactions to height and attire rather than strength. Two groups of men and women—about 50-50—were shown photographs of the different men on a computer screen and told that they would be rating people who had been recently hired by a new consulting firm. The participants were asked to rate each subject on how much they admired him, held him in esteem, and believed he would rise in status. They were also asked questions such as, “Do you think this person would be a good leader?” and “How effective is this person dealing with other in a group?” Ready? The envelope please….the physically strong men in the pictures were given higher status because they are perceived as leaders.  Wait, there’s more:  The phenomenon apparently applies to men only. There was little effect on participants’ perception of leadership skills when they were shown physically strong vs. weak women.

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