A face only an investor could love: CEO facial structure predicts firm financial performance
Journal
Psychological Science
Subject
Organisational Behaviour
Publishing details
Publication Year
2011
Abstract
Researchers have theorized that innate personal traits are related to leadership success. Although links between psychological characteristics and leadership success have been well established, research has yet to identify any objective physical traits of leaders that predict organizational performance. In the research reported here, we identified leaders’ facial structure as a specific physical trait that correlates with organizational performance. Specifically, we found that firms whose male CEOs have wider faces (relative to facial height) achieve superior financial performance. Decision-making dynamics within a firm’s leadership team moderate this effect, such that the relationship between a given CEO’s facial measurements and his firm’s financial performance is stronger in firms with cognitively simple leadership teams.
Keywords
Facial features; Organizations
Available on ECCH
No
