Aries Magazine December 2013 / January 2014 Issue | Page 138

WORK

Don’t Be The
One That
Finishes
Last
It’s time to put the gloves on
and show everybody that
you mean business!

Looks like the rest of society
is discovering what Ron Livingston’s
character from Office Space figured
out a long time ago: Being
too nice at work doesn’t get
you much — literally.

According to the Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,
nice guys earn a significantly smaller
paycheck than men
of the meaner variety.

The study polled 10,000 men,
asking them to rate themselves from
agreeable to stubborn, and, finally, to
difficult on a scale of 1 to 5. Research showed that men who considered themselves less than nice made
18% more ($9,772) on average. Variables such as education level, marital
status and job responsibility
were all controlled.

There are a couple of theories
out there why this is the case. The
first is that nice guys are more likely
to brown-nose, be overly pleasing
and may not bring the cold, hard
honesty in a time when it’s needed
for a key business decision. The other perceptions seems to be
that nice people lack a bit of
competence overall.

While it’s hard to prove
which — if any — hypothesis is true,
the bottom line is that it’s just another realm where nice guys finish last.

Be The Top Dog

DEC 2013 & JAN 2014

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ARIES

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ARIES

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DEC 2013 & JAN 2014