Our Beauty Bias

yamommy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:31:20 +0000

You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t! If you are too beautiful as a woman, life will work against you and if you aren’t beautiful (by society’s terms) then life will work against you too. The same thing applies to men, but probably not as much as women. I found this great article and video on Newseek that are worth sharing. The video is called ‘Looksism’ Goes Pop. Jessica Bennett is basically pointing out that we are biased against ‘ugly’ people even if we don’t know it. I am going to use the harsh term ‘ugly’ to just make the point of how ridiculous this is. To get a job, people will usually hire good looking applicants; in fact, well-rounded applicants that are good looking are better options than ugly but very intelligent applicants (who may be better for the job). Babies stare at beautiful people a lot more than they stare at ugly people. Teachers give more praise and better feedback to beautiful people.

Are we that shallow? I guess we are that shallow and maybe I do that too. To be honest, when I used to recruit for our company, the way an applicant looked probably did affect my first impression of him or her. But did it determine whether they got the opportunity for the second round of interviews. I really hope not and I don’t believe so. But, I guess the question is, knowing what we know now about the beauty bias for both men and women, what are we personally going to do about it? Well I know that I am going to be more conscious about it. I want to ask myself the question bravely at the right time- is this person’s looks affecting my judgement? I am sure if we ask ourselves this one simple question whether it is about the men or women we date, or whether it is about colleagues that we work with or whether we are recruiting, we can then address this issue upfront. I mean, enough is enough. The world is being ruled by superficial values – how we look, how much money we have, what car do we drive, who do we know. Let’s go back and simplify. Let’s jump out of this shallow cloud and dive back down to Earth. That’s where the soul of humanity is anyway. Do we have a deal?

Do you think you are the MVP at work?

yamommy — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:59:10 +0000

I hate to tell you this, but everyone is dispensable. Throughout the last few years working in training and HR, I realized that people often think more highly of themselves than others perceive them. I feel this is quite dangerous because this gives employees tunnel vision and prevents them from developing themselves. They often take feedback as criticism and ignore it. But in the spirit of Spain winning the World Cup, I thought I should offer my two-cents about this. Do you think that any of the players on the Spanish team think they are the best or better than their teammates? I don’t think so. That is why they were magical on the football field. That is why even when they had the chance to score, they would look around hunting for their pals to share the challenge and glory. If companies operated like the Spanish team, they would reach the top 100 companies in the world to work for easily. And come to think of it, who from the Spanish team can you label as the MVP- the most valuable player? I don’t know what the pro’s will decide, but in my point of view, it could be David Villa, Andrés Iniesta or Iker Casillas. Or maybe someone else from the squad. Why can’t I decide? Because they are all very valuable players. They play their best every single second.

So what can YOU do to be the MVP of your team at work? Well, I found this simplified checklist by Robert Half International on careerbuilder that I thought could give you a good start. I recommend you check out the article for details, but for now, I will just share the checklist headlines..just to wet your appetite:

1. Have a winning mind-set

2. Don’t be afraid to change plays

3. Develop the ability to make tough calls

4. Practice good sportsmanship

5. Offer to pinch hit

6. Build an enthusiastic fan base

Listing the above doesn’t give the article justice. It is worth you checking it out. Good luck and let’s play ball.

renroon » Personal Development

Our Beauty Bias

Do you think you are the MVP at work?