Al Ries and Jack Trout’s ‘positioning’ concept delivers key points on the external features of becoming a business leader within a particular market. “The look of leader”, an article in The Economist, on the other hand, provides insight on the internal features of being a leader within business.
According to research done by Malcolm Gladwell, ‘30% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are 6 feet 2 inches or taller’. Furthermore, studies show that ‘voice quality’ is imperative for positive listener evaluation. Research conducted by University of California, San Diego and Duke University revealed that CEOs with the ‘deepest voices earned $187,000 a year more than the average’. Hence, candidates for executive positions are still likely to be selected based on superficial aspects such as height and voice quality. Despite the vast changes in the human society, why do top positions within businesses still conform to stereotypes?
Thus, this highlights that there may be a relatively fixed mindset upon the characteristics for a strong candidate for the higher positions within a business. Although external factors of improving the ‘positioning’ of a business is rather objective and factual, internal factors of ‘positioning’ within a business is rather subjective. However, whether this is an extreme issue for businesses and a factor that sets them back is still unclear.
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