Jerks Are Penalized Even When They Have Good Ideas
Monday, December 8, 2014 - 18:30
in Psychology & Sociology
You don't have to be a jerk to get the right thing done but sometimes out-of-the-box thinking requires some angry evangelism. Yet even legendary jerks like Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison knew you can't use the belligerence strategy too often or the next brilliant idea you have could fall on deaf ears. Samuel Hunter of Pennsylvania State University and Lily Cushenbery of Stony Brook University, writing in the Journal of Business and Psychology, say jerks that are disagreeable by nature, overly confident, dominant, argumentative, egotistic, headstrong or sometimes even hostile are lauded, like Jobs, if they are innovative and succeed and happen to be CEO of the company, but for most people it can backfire. read more