by The Recruiting Animal. Source: The Economist
From Psychologists, Tufts U:
When people saw 2-second clips of profs lecturing, they rated them the same way their actual students did.
Next Test: When undergrads saw photos of CEO's faces from of the top and bottom 25 Fortune 1000 firms and graded them as leaders their ratings matched the standings of their companies in terms of profits.
Are you listening? These young ignoramuses who couldn't even recognize Warren Buffett made accurate assessments about companies based on the face of the CEO. The conclusion is obvious: instant judgements are accurate.
Here's another wrinkle in the story. Another group of students was shown the same CEO's faces and asked to rate them on competence, dominance, likeability, facial maturity and trustworthiness. The high ratings matched the success of the firms.
Now get this. Researchers from Yale and Pittsburgh U asked sr mgrs to rate their CEO's for the ability to communicate an exciting vision and model good behaviour. They could not, however, on the basis of these assessments find a link between a firm's performance and the boss's personality.
What does that mean? Well we know from the success of the students' assessments that there is a relationship between the leader's personality and the performance of the group that he leads. Therefore, the ignorant students made more accurate assessments than well-informed managers. The conclusion: knowing someone interferes with the ability to judge him well.
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