Wednesday, November 16, 2016

"Aggression" or "Aggressiveness"?

"At the University of Amsterdam, researchers have found that semi-obnoxious behavior not only can make a person seem more powerful, but can make them more powerful, period. The same goes for overconfidence. Act like you're the smartest person in the room, a series of striking studies demonstrates, and you'll up your chances of running the show. People will even pay to be treated shabbily: snobbish, condescending salespeople at luxury retailers extract more money from shoppers than their more agreeable counterparts do. And 'agreeableness,' other research shows, is a trait that tends to make you poorer. 'We believe we want people who are modest, authentic, and all the things we rate positively' to be our leaders, says Jeffrey Pfeffer, a business professor at Stanford. 'But we find it's all the things we rate negatively'—like immodesty—'that are the best predictors of higher salaries or getting chosen for a leadership position.'"

In a 2015 Atlantic article, Jerry Useem explores if "It Pays to Be a Jerk."

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