Talent Management: Does appearance matter?
Appearance matters. It’s the theme of the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell. Or the saying “You only have one chance to make a good first impression.” Cheryl Cole wouldn’t be on TV if she wasn’t a beautiful woman. A pit bull has street cred in a way that a poodle doesn’t. Interviewers look closely at body language – eye contact, smiling, hands folded and so on. There’s a big increase in cosmetic surgery and recent books about “erotic capital”.
But appearance is a poor predictor of business or management success. I liked the 2011 film Bridesmaids. The glamorous but unhappy heroine turns to the plain fat girl for comfort. It turns out that the latter owns 18 houses, has the best campervan on the market and the highest security classification. And she gets her man! The Rain Man was brilliant, despite appearances to the contrary.
Getting the right people on your bus is critical to success. But don’t decide just on appearance. It’s wasteful and possibly discriminatory. And men need to be particularly careful when judging women. Remember that Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did; only she had to dance in high heels and backwards.
Instead suspend judgement and have an open mind. (Think umbrella – it’s only useful when open.) Consider their achievements, personality, knowledge, competencies and attitude. Speak informally to previous employers. Test them out with a small project or exercise. When putting together client project teams, I always give a small piece of work to someone and judge them by the result.
Picture by jo-h. It shows a rose with rain drops on it. Its appearance is fragile but it survived a rain storm.
