Photo by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash

Elizabeth Blankenspoor of Standford University, Bradley Hendricks of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Gregory Miller of the University of Michigan combined their forces to conducted a study to prove that the attractiveness of a CEO helps the company in more ways than we’d care to think.

Participants in the survey were showed 30-second clips from presentations by 224 CEOs. The research paper says the subjects had no idea who the CEOs were (which is a bit hard to swallow, considering that a pool of 224 CEOs has a high public figure coefficient), or what they were selling. The clips were stripped of the audio so that those surveyed would not be influenced by the actual pitch. The video-only feed would force them to judge the initial public offering (IPO) based solely on gestures and mannerisms.

What they found was interesting. The perception of the CEO’s attractiveness, competence and trustworthiness directly influences the price of an IPO. A rating just 5% higher on these perceptions marked an 11% spike in IPO price.

You don’t need a degree to know that charisma sells, but helps to know just how much it matters to sway your public with body language. This is why we at 4PSA regard communication as an art, and we’re proud to be in the business of assisting it.