Ever since Neil Kinnock failed to become prime minister, baldness has been a badge of the political loser in Britain. But perhaps the likes of William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith should move to America.
Men with completely bald pates were perceived to be more masculine, dominant, taller and even "about 13%" stronger than those with full heads of hair, according to a US study published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal.
The key, as (shaven-headed) study author Albert Mannes, management lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, identified, is for balding men to shave off what little hair remains, like Bruce Willis, rather than trying a Bobby Charlton or looking like a monk. Mannes' study found that men with thinning hair were viewed as the least powerful of all, with those displaying typical male-pattern baldness seen as older and less attractive.
The Wall Street Journal cites Amazon CEO Jeffrey Bezos, DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and Marc Andreessen, founder of Netscape, as business leaders who have followed the close-cropped advice.
"I'm not saying that shaving your head makes you successful, but it starts the conversation that you've done something active," tech entrepreneur and writer Seth Godin told the WSJ. All those actors and footballers who spend a fortune on hair transplants may disagree but for Godin shaving his head was a "highly leveraged marketing choice".
What do you think? Do the following prominent men look 13% more powerful without their hair?
