BMA eBook - Manual / Resource - Page 22
SPOTLIGHT ON INFLUENCE
Why Warmth Trumps Strength
competence. Princeton social psychologist Alex
Todorov and colleagues study the cognitive and neural mechanisms that drive our “spontaneous trait
inferences”—the snap judgments we make when
briefly looking at faces. Their research shows that
when making those judgments, people consistently
pick up on warmth faster than on competence. This
preference for warmth holds true in other areas as
well. In a study led by Oscar Ybarra, of the University
of Michigan, participants playing a word game identified warmth-related words (such as “friendly”) significantly faster than competence-related ones (such
as “skillful”).
Behavioral economists, for their part, have
shown that judgments of trustworthiness generally lead to significantly higher economic gains. For
example, Mascha van ’t Wout, of Brown University,
and Alan Sanfey, of the University of Arizona, asked
subjects to determine how an endowment should
be allocated. Players invested more money, with
no guarantee of return, in partners whom they
perceived to be more trustworthy on the basis of a
glance at their faces.
In management settings, trust increases information sharing, openness, fluidity, and cooperation. If
coworkers can be trusted to do the right thing and
live up to their commitments, planning, coordination, and execution are much easier. Trust also facilitates the exchange and acceptance of ideas—it allows people to hear others’ message—and boosts the
quantity and quality of the ideas that are produced
within an organization. Most important, trust provides the opportunity to change people’s attitudes
and beliefs, not just their outward behavior. That’s
the sweet spot when it comes to influence and the
ability to get people to fully accept your message.
The Happy Warrior
The best way to gain influence is to combine warmth
and strength—as difficult as Machiavelli says that
may be to do. The traits can actually be mutually reinforcing: Feeling a sense of personal strength helps
us to be more open, less threatened, and less threatening in stressful situations. When we feel confident
and calm, we project authenticity and warmth.
Understanding a little bit about our chemical
makeup can shed some light on how this works. The
neuropeptides oxytocin and arginine vasopressin,
for instance, have been linked to our ability to form
human attachments, to feel and express warmth,
and to behave altruistically. Recent research also
The primacy of warmth manifests in many interrelated ways
that powerfully underscore the importance of connecting
with people before trying to lead them.
The Need to Affiliate
People have a need to be included,
to feel a sense of belonging. In fact,
some psychologists would argue that
the drive to affiliate ranks among
our primary needs as humans. Experiments by neuroscientist Naomi
Eisenberger and colleagues suggest
that the need is so strong that when
we are ostracized—even by virtual
strangers—we experience pain that is
akin to strong physical pain.
“Us” Versus “Them”
In recent decades, few areas have
received as much attention from social psychology researchers as group
dynamics—and for good reason: The
preference for the groups to which
one belongs is so strong that even
under extreme conditions—such as
knowing that membership in a group
was randomly assigned and that the
groups themselves are arbitrary—
people consistently prefer fellow
group members to nonmembers.
As a leader, you must make sure
you’re a part of the key groups in
your organization. In fact, you want
to be the aspirational member of the
group, the chosen representative of
the group. As soon as you become
one of “them”—the management,
the leadership—you begin to lose
people.
The Desire to Be
Understood
People deeply desire to be heard
and seen. Sadly, as important as
perspective-taking is to good leadership, being in a position of power
decreases people’s understanding of
others’ points of view. When we have
power over others, our ability to see
them as individuals diminishes. So
leaders need to consciously and consistently make the effort to imagine
walking in the shoes of the people
they are leading.
suggests that across the animal kingdom feelings of
strength and power have close ties to two hormones:
testosterone (associated with assertiveness, reduced
fear, and willingness to compete and take risks) and
cortisol (associated with stress and stress reactivity).
One study, by Jennifer Lerner, Gary Sherman,
Amy Cuddy, and colleagues, brought hundreds of
people participating in Harvard executive-education
programs into the lab and compared their levels of
cortisol with the average levels of the general population. The leaders reported less stress and anxiety
than did the general population, and their physiology backed that up: Their cortisol levels were significantly lower. Moreover, the higher their rank and the
more subordinates they managed, the lower their
cortisol level. Why? Most likely because the leaders
had a heightened sense of control—a psychological
factor known to have a powerful stress-buffering effect. According to research by Pranjal Mehta, of the
University of Oregon, and Robert Josephs, of the University of Texas, the most effective leaders, regard-
