Michelle Rodger: Lip service won't make you a leader, even with a facelift

Published on Saturday 18 July 2009 14:17

SO NOW we know: great leaders have perfect pouts. It's true. Scientists have identified the future face of the successful business leader – and they have full lips.

Experts at the University of Kent interviewed 200 managers and employees using forensic technology to assess the attributes of high-fliers. If the study is to be believed, it appears that looks are as crucial as attitude.

Participants were first interviewed to establish their attitudes and opinions on what makes a good business leader, and were then asked to assign 200 faces with a score for the degree to which they showed the leadership attributes they'd talked about in the interview. Analysis of the faces' characteristics revealed that for male leaders a pronounced brow and forehead were found to be trusted, and for women thin eyebrows, wider eyes and fuller lips completed the face of a future inspirational leader. Are you looking in your mirror yet? How do your looks compare?

According to Professor Chris Solomon, Britons still want leaders with the confidence of experience, a "firm but fair" attitude and encouraging creativity and flexibility. More importantly, however, he says these scientific findings demonstrate how Britons think a good business leader should actually look.

But we're all taught from an early age that looks aren't everything, that we shouldn't judge sausages by their skins or books by their covers, so let's consider another study released this week: this one states that aggression is actually the key to successful leadership.

This academic study, Does It Pay To Be Nice?, shows that "alpha male" women who adopt a masculine approach to work actually earn 4% more than those deemed to be "passive". Four per cent doesn't seem an awful lot, but it equates to an average earning of 40,000 more over their career lifetime than female colleagues who are "nice".

Guido Heineck, from the Institute of Employment Research in Germany, summed up this work by telling conference delegates at Essex University that personality traits such as "agreeableness" were just not beneficial in the workplace.

Now, before you rush off to book yourself radical cosmetic surgery, an assertiveness training course and an appointment with your boss to demand a 4 per cent pay rise, just stop for a moment and listen to the voice of reason. If you can't hear it, try harder. You should hear what the experts at HR World have to say. They insist that intrinsic traits such as intelligence, good looks and height are not necessary to become a leader. Apparently anyone can cultivate the proper leadership characteristics and HR World happily lists the 10 essential traits you need to master: vision, integrity, dedication, magnanimity, humility, openness, creativity, fairness, assertiveness and, not forgetting, a sense of humour.

Leadership trainer Neale Carter is just as adamant that leaders are made, not born. Carter, of LMI UK, says leadership is about deciding on and moving in a specific direction, and getting the rest of your people on board. There are no born leaders, these skills are gained by choosing to learn and then execute.

But he warns that many organisations never reach their potential because they have too many managers and not enough effective leaders. "Leadership is more than a title or position," he says. "It must be learned."

I reckon there's a key trait missing, however, and that is passion. Ask an entrepreneur, as opposed to an HR expert, to identify the winning behaviours of great leaders and passion will top the list every time.

Norma Corlette specialises in helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses but also, crucially, grow themselves as leaders. She says passion is essential; passion coupled firmly with the ability to support their teams and stretch them beyond what they believe they are capable of.

The hardest part is in ensuring that the vision, for which leaders have a genuine passion, is in touch with the reality of today's economic challenges. If you have empathy and your people believe in you and your vision, says Corlette, founder and chief executive of Sulis Enterprises, "they will go anywhere for you".

For Gita Patel, entrepreneur and founding investor in Stargate Capital Management, great leaders are those who inspire others around them in such a way that inspiration turns into aspiration.

Sitting comfortably alongside the ability to innovate and influence is, according to Patel, one of the most important attributes: the ability to successfully build and manage relationships in a way that can create win-win models.

"Good leaders do not have to be bullies," says Patel. "These are people that acknowledge the contribution of the guy at reception to the guy that heads up a large business."

So great leadership isn't a birthright, or a divine right. It truly and simply comes down to strength of character.

General "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf summed it up succinctly when he opined: "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy."

Either that or get a facelift…