While out and about in the car last Thursday I was listening to Radio 4 – between REM songs – and I overheard an interview with Catherine Hakim, a researcher in sociology at LSE.  Listen to the chat here.  She was on to discuss and promote her latest book Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital, in which she argues that virtues such as attractiveness and vivaciousness play as large a part in professional success as academic qualifications.

This topic attracts – ba-dum tsh – my attention for a few reasons.  First off, it reminded me of the argument made by advocates of emotional intelligence like me.  We assert that success in life is probably more down to non-academic skills such as motivation, empathy and persuasiveness than anything you learned in school.  Your ability to master these skills increases your emotional capital or the value of your personal brand in the marketplace.  Maybe erotic or sexual capital is another application of the emotional intelligences paradigm.

Also, I’ve been interested in the so-called halo effect for some time.  This is a bias in our brains that makes us judge a person or thing better than it is in one area because it seems to be great in another.  So, for example, we tend to think that beautiful people are smarter or more competent than they really are.  Hakim’s work seems to take advantage of this bias.  But it even applies to products.  Because the iPod is regarded well, people tend to overestimate other Apple products.  (Surely that is heresy?  Yes it is, but don’t call me Shirley…)

Since Hakim explicitly argues that erotic capital is a tool women should wield for career advancement, she has raised some heckles in the sisterhood.  For instance, while Elizabeth Day admits that Hakim’s work is “interesting” and “genuinely thought-provoking” in places, in the end she judges it “fairly offensive”.  Anna North is more forthright, dismissing it as “bullshit”.   Guardian writer Zoe Williams seems proud to have clashed with Hakim over lunch.

I suspect in reality that there’s something to it, probably as a subset of social intelligence.  At any rate, read what the lady herself has to say before you dismiss it as so much post-feminist femme fatale.

Have you got erotic capital?  It can be just as valuable as a university degree—especially for women

Erotic Capital in the European Sociological Review

For a more balanced evaluation read:

Catherine Hakim: She’s counting up erotic capital by Kaye Spicer.  Subheading:  ‘The academic with a knack for upsetting feminists has done it again, claiming that sex appeal is as important as brains’.  Also try Erotic Capital by Celia Walden.  ‘Meet the woman who defined the definitive professional must-have of our generation: Dr Catherine Hakim.’

So do women use feminine wiles to their advantage  at work?  My wife says yes.  Do you agree?

Every now and then ‘the news’ produces an interesting story that flies dangerously close to the ground.  It therefore fails to register on our radars, which are primed to catch those important-sounding-but-personally-irrelevant ones instead.

I thought it might prove useful if I gathered some of these together at semi-random intervals for your perusal.  Their general theme is covered by the four main training areas of Sensei: Thinking, Learning, Communicating and Performing.

So here goes.

The secrets of changing the world looks at the personal qualities of the world’s greatest contemporary innovators: an indestructible will, passion beyond reason, outrageous optimism, a super-sized ego, and the rebel yell.  Oops, I only have one of these.  As for the rest, optimism can be learned.  The super-sized ego thing makes me flinch, even though I suspect it’s true.

Market trading: How hard can it be? Darn good question.  This article surprised me in that it doesn’t place skill with numbers at the top of the list.  Instead it talks about the importance of the right kind of psychology instead, one that looks to the long-term and evaluates risk dispassionately.  But above all, information is king.  There’s also a good glossary of ‘trader speak’.

Superheroes ‘poor role models for boys’ says some idiot psychological society.  Makes me sick.  But wait!  Turns out what they mean is contemporary superheroes in contrast to the heroes of yesteryear who had a strong sense of responsibility and ethics.  I’m half convinced.  Big difference between The Lone Ranger and The Punisher, true.  Frank Castle kills the bad guys instead of just knocking them out.  But which character is more realistic and nuanced?  Isn’t there value in this?

Add to this blog by sending in your almost-missed stories!

Image credit: rutlo.

There have been a few quality articles written recently about a topic close to my heart – the place of men in the modern workplace.  In this blog, I intend to do two things.  Firstly, I want to provide you with links to them so you can read them at your leisure, and a summary of what they’re about.  And second, since they mention some issues that I’ve touched on before, I’ll provide links to my relevant posts.  Here goes!

The End of Men (The Atlantic Magazine)

“Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn’t the end point? What if modern, postindustrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now under way— and its vast cultural consequences”

Issues:

• Feminine management style – post-heroic leadership
• Emotional/Social intelligence
• Learning style of boys
• How pop-culture portrays men

The New Heavyweight Champions (The Globe and Mail)

“Women are out-studying, out-working and out-earning men. And all evidence suggests the shift is permanent”

Are Men Obsolete? Ask Sebastian Junger (CBC News)

Issues:

• war as a distinctly male activity
• the need for male rites of passage

Let me end with some quotes from this last article.  Since this is a blog about me, I’d appreciate a man having the last word.  (The two articles above were penned by women.)

“In today’s modern culture where, Junger argues, there are no rites of passage anymore, going to war provides a simple, stable set of meanings. It gives the participants a purpose and a job, provided they can conquer the fear of being killed. War brings males together in a bond of “love,” Junger says…In combat, Junger tells us, something quite extraordinary happens. You might literally sacrifice yourself for your comrade, even if you hated him…Still, you can’t create this intense bonding in everyday society. That’s the tragedy…So, in the end, it’s not simply the violence that these men are largely addicted to. It’s the sense of belonging. These soldiers believe their simple, structured life, lived with comradely intensity, is easier than the confusions and uncertainties of civilian life. You can see small versions of this sentiment in street cafes right now — the bands of men cheering wildly for their tribe, their World Cup team.”

I’m writing this blog on the day before the World Cup final.  I remember a clip from the film Black Hawk Down.  As I watch it for the hundredth time, I’m tempted to do something very unmanly, something that starts with ‘c’ and rhymes with die.  Which is kind of fitting, since die is what these articles tell me men do best anyway.

Readers of this blog will know my interest in lies and how they relate to body language in particular.  I’ve even delivered a workshop called Lies and Damned Lies: How to Become a Human Lie Detector.  I want to use this blog to flag up some general development and stories in this area.

“Researchers are testing how people judge honest behaviour because they are worried jurors could reach a verdict based on the way a defendant looks.”  In connection to this story, check out a link to The Honesty Lab, “the first ever international study to explore public concepts of honesty”.

Just to counterbalance the gender bias in the first story, read here how one in four British woman admit they would lie when it comes to trying to conceive without their partners consent.

Doctors are among the professionals that expect to hear lies from the public.  One doctor speculates that this is “because the NHS is free at the point of delivery [so] its worth is not fully appreciated”.  Interesting…

Priests, politicians and psychologists from Northern Ireland all discuss the pros, but mostly the cons, of lies in society.  It seems there are few of us in this country who tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

From a scientific rather than a social perspective, brains scans seem to provide a way forward in lie detection.  “Brain scans could be useful as lie detectors to show if a witness lies when identifying a suspect in a crime investigation, US researchers believe.”  Perhaps they are even reliable enough to detect criminals and those who lie under oath.

And what about politicians: can they be honest?  Can they give a straight answer to any question?  And could we take it if they did?  I’d be lying if I said I thought we could…

P.S. Related “curve ball” story: Toddlers who lie ‘will do better’ in later life!

According to recent research, what women want is ‘men who are kind’.  Why?  The characteristic of altruism – selfless concern for the welfare of others – suggests that a man may make a better parent and is not just in the relationship for sex.  

Macho risk-taking is not the way to a woman’s heart.

What women need to hear is that having a big bum, hips and thighs ‘is healthy’.  Why?  Hip fat mops up harmful fatty acids and contains an anti-inflammatory agent that stops arteries clogging.  Large thighs perform the same function.

This seems to me like a win-win situation.  Nice guys don’t finish last.  And women who don’t look like catwalk models will last longer.

Just thought you should know…

Image credit: pacomexico.