Your Leaders: Forged in a Holiday Inn Express?

By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady

Once again well-credentialed academics from an esteemed university (this time the University of California at Berkeley) have spent time and money “discovering” something that any decent HR manager could have told them for free. The finding: “Dominant” individuals who talk a good game can persuade groups that they know what they’re talking about—even if they don’t.

The mere fact that they are assertive, forceful, and self-assured is enough to get the group’s respect. This “Holiday-Inn-Express” effect of pretending competence and exuding self-confidence is often enough to gain group confidence—at least in the short term.

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The study, “Why do dominant personalities attain influence in face-to-face groups? The competence-signaling effects of trait dominance,” by Cameron Anderson and Gavin J. Kilduff, appeared in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The study carefully controlled for a number of biases and makes a convincing case for its premise. One of the ways that the study controlled for bias was in the way that the groups were set up. Sometimes they would include someone with knowledge of the subject that was to be discussed. Sometimes the group wouldn’t have such a person. (Neither the other group members nor the “expert” individual knew about this.) Male and female mixes were also controlled for.

Anderson and Kilduff found that none of those factors affected the outcome. Forceful individuals, even without expertise, were always more likely to dominate and gain the respect of team members, even when they had no idea of what they were talking about.

HR’s Job Is to Foil Fast-Talkers

There can’t be any dispute about the accuracy of their conclusions. We see it every day in applicants who are good at selling themselves, fast-talking salespeople who can’t deliver the goods, consultants who sell management on bizarre proposals, and co-workers who can snow the boss.

There are countless examples, and they have serious, costly consequences. That’s the bad news. The good news is that if this weren’t so, HR might not have a job. Our mission is to support managers with testing, résumé screening, reference checking—good, solid HR “blocking and tackling”—before hiring, and then with performance appraisals and coaching after hiring, to reduce the incidence of “Holiday-Inn-Express” experts in our workplaces.

Another Wrong Conclusion

There is a related pet peeve that I’d like to address. Some people, especially self-effacing young people, will draw the wrong conclusion from this study. What they’ll “hear” is that if you talk too much, you’re a phony. Therefore, to avoid being tagged as such, you shouldn’t speak up, aka “I’m not going to make a fool of myself if I keep quiet.”

While that may be the right response is some cases, it isn’t professionally productive in the long term. Looking at my own career, I’ve often talked too much and offered ill-considered opinions too quickly, and made a fool of myself (ask my wife and daughter). And I’ve seen plenty of other people do so, too. But I’ve learned from the experience, sometimes painfully.

First of all, by arguing for a position, you often find the holes in your beliefs. Second, by arguing with people, you find out who is thinking and how they’re thinking. It goes without saying that you have to “argue” forcefully, but respectfully. When you cross that “respect” line, people often dismiss your ideas, no matter how good they are.

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Talk doesn’t equate to action, but from my perspective as an employer, someone who says “Tell-me-what-to-do-and-I’ll-do-it” is less valuable than someone who can evaluate a situation and propose a course of action. Ideal management employees have good ideas, can argue for them persuasively, and are open to modifying their ideas based on input from others. In the end, there are risks to opening your mouth, but there is reward as well.

Is Your Boss a Fraud?

In a Time magazine article entitled “Competence: Is Your Boss Faking It?” the implied premise was that people get hired and promoted not because of competence, but because of their ability to interview well and “snow” everyone. Another take on the famous “Peter Principle” (in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence).

Which brings me back to my first point: This is why HR exists.

It is HR’s job to make sure that people with poor skills don’t get hired or promoted. Interviewing, testing, reference checking, etc., are the tools of the trade. It is so easy to get fooled by persuasive, assertive people. The “dominant individuals” study once again proves the necessity of a sound education in the fundamental tools of the profession. And it also shows the need for all of us to make sure that our opinions are heard. We wouldn’t be where we are if we didn’t know what we’re doing. Don’t let fear of failure keep you from speaking your mind.

Anyway, that’s my e-pinion. I’d love to hear yours. E-mail me at Rbrady@blr.com.