Don’t be a nice guy or girl

There’s a lot of crazy studies these days. I’ve seen that wine is a good sunblock – which I tested last weekend and got a minor sunburn. Chocolate is an antioxidant – which only gave me a sugar rush. Yeah, it was a busy weekend for me.

Then I was sent a story with the headline “Nice guys finish second, women finish last.”

The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (I know – who?) reported that men with disagreeable personalities out-earn men with agreeable personalities by about 18 per cent.

When it comes to disagreeable women, well, it was kind of a different story. Those women only made roughly five per cent more than women with agreeable personalities.

We hear it time and time again that outspoken or strong women are considered to be, well, dare I say bitches? That’s not me name-calling, you know there are stereotypes about certain types of personalities.

So where do the “nice guys” come in? They aren’t finishing last, because that’s where the strong women are. The “nice guys” aren’t making as much as the “bad guys”, according to the study, but they are still making more than women.

What does this all mean? Well, to me it was concerning as the report seems to indicate that being a “nice” person isn’t rewarded in life. And then I realized that that’s nothing new to the workforce.

There are many people in offices that you think are obnoxious because they have a tough personality with which to get along, but in the end it gets them further career-wise.

It all comes back to what suits you as a person. Do you change your personality just in the workplace so it benefits your bank account? Or do you be true to yourself and stay the good person you think/know you are?

But in the world of reality shows and stepping on others to get ahead, it’s saddening to know which route many people will take.