Everybody holds various views regarding beauty and physical attractiveness that could be indefinitely debatable.In leadership, there is no difference, many views subsist concerning the importance of looks, or I should say the importance of race for a pretty face or shapely body.Even some research today shows that attractive people have more of a chance at success in life than less attractive people. Whether it is at the workplace, home or even in the street, your physical attractiveness might serve you.

I always believed, from an early age, that everybody is naturally attractive. I do remember myself trying to convince one of my middle school classmates of her own beauty. She was completely fond of these spotless models in trendy magazines and she used to regard their physical attractiveness highly, like it was a special gift reserved only for a certain human elite. Many times, I told her candidly that with a different attitude and not necessarily a different look, she could truly see and appreciate her own beauty and maybe rethink her unfounded veneration for beautified paper models.

Nowadays, this might seem very naive coming from a 41 year old woman. However, this attitude helped me to quickly build a strong armor against what most people commonly name beauty and physical attractiveness today. I just decided to be me and that was a tough decision to make at 11 years old, because at that time, I was probably already labeled “not attractive’ by the common standards of beauty. Until today, I continually reject these look alike challenges that clone your being and more importantly suffocate your soul. I always took a firm stand against the beauty standards that dangerously crush people’s confidence and slowly poison their uniqueness.

I believe that a culture that values authentic leadership should promote authentic beauty and not a manipulated perception of beauty to worship

Indeed, we perfectly know that being attractive means much more than only looking good. We can all admit that we might have fallen, for the polished looks, nice hair, pretty faces, trendy dress and killer commercial smiles, but is this truly beauty? Not necessarily. Our perceptions of leaders can be completely influenced by their looks. We often omit considering that physical attractiveness is obviously a mix of genetics and a great deal of manipulation. A manipulation that constantly nourishes beauty bias. Beauty bias that keeps giving birth to so many controversial perceptions about attractiveness, such as this appalling fact that we tend to be more compelled towards people considered physically attractive.

Physical attractiveness is usually socially constructed and seems more complex than what we might believe at first. As a matter of fact, the perception of attractiveness is a deep combination of your physical attractiveness and its dynamic. A leader’s personality, grace and body language greatly impact peoples’ perceptions. We all might have the examples of successful leaders who succeeded although they do not look physically attractive based on what our society strictly defined as standards of physical attractiveness in mind. The success of these leaders is surely linked to their attractive personality and expressive style, not solely to their pretty face, shapely body or nice hair.

People perceive leaders’ attractiveness through a combination of static and dynamic qualities such as emotional expression and social skills. As a matter of fact, the influence leaders might have on people is strongly rooted in their expressive style. The more the leaders are positively expressive, the more attractive they are perceived. Successful leaders master the art of presenting themselves in a natural way through their expressive style. In fact, leaders’ attractiveness lies within them. To tell the truth, how can you be attractive to others if you are not true to yourself?

Attractiveness lies in the leader’s heart

We must start by being good to ourselves before thinking about looking or being good to others. Attractiveness, no matter how you define it, should always start from within and free you from the countless societal pressures. Successful leaders have a self-respect for themselves and others. They are not people who possess an inflated sense of entitlement and self-worth. On the contrary, attractive leaders love themselves and are happy with who they are, which magnifies their charisma and attractiveness.

Everybody loves being around positive people who believe that they can make something wonderful happen. Successful leaders put faith in themselves and they are naturally attractive because they know that they hold the key to their own success. For great leaders, success can mean a multitude of things on harmony with who they truly are, and their influence is connected to their attractiveness.

A leader’s perception of attractiveness should never be limited to physical static attractiveness that can be considered superficial. And anybody who judges someone’s worth by it might be a superficial being themself.

Post Courtesy: Karima Hana-Meksem,PhD.