Here’s something to think about. It may not be A-Rod’s drug use or lying that should preclude him from being a role model. It’s his very success.
Recent research into role models says we may be choosing the wrong people to emulate, and that could be hurting us professionally.
“The more exceptional performers are, the less we may learn from them,” said Chengwei Liu, an assistant professor of strategy and behavioral science at the University of Warwick in Britain.
In fact, he said, we may do better to look to solid workers who aren’t as flashy as those at the top, but consistently perform well.
Professor Liu and his co-author, Jerker Denrell, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Warwick, drew their conclusions by developing a simulation model in which success depends both on skill and past success. In other words, the probability of success increases if the previous outcome was a success.
Based on simulated data, they looked at how average skill levels vary with the number of successes achieved and found that players who achieved exceptional performance had an average skill level that was lower than the skill level of those with fewer successes.
“The most successful players are not the most impressive,” they wrote. “Rather, the moderately successful players are the most impressive ones.”
That’s because “chance events outside the control of individuals often influence performance,” Professor Liu wrote in the paper, which was published in the June 2012 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Luck and the rich-get-richer dynamic — in which those who succeed early are more apt to receive resources and attention — often play a crucial role in determining who ends up on top.
Those at the pinnacle of their field may also have taken huge risks, which could be dangerous to imitate.
And, to circle back to my A-Rod example, it may be illegal or unethical deeds that push the supersuccessful to the top. We’ve seen it so often that we shouldn’t be surprised, yet somehow we always are.
“We tend to be attracted to extreme performance, but maybe it should make us more suspicious,” Professor Liu said.
Annie Murphy Paul, who wrote about role models on the Brilliant Blog, said: “As a society, we fetishize the guy who is No. 1, with the idea that if we do what he does, we’ll be successful. However, research suggests that can be very misleading. No. 1 might be the outlier and No. 2 might have gotten to where he is through hard work and prudent decision-making.”
There’s another problem with looking at the best of the best. Rather than being inspirational, it might just be depressing.
“There’s a simple idea that exposure to illustrious role models will inspire people to think, ‘I can be just like that,’ when really it’s a much more complicated psychological process,” said Ms. Paul, who writes about social science and the brain. “Often we look at them and think, ‘I’m not anything like that.’ ”
For example, Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, mother and best-selling author, may be a great role model. Or she may seem so perfect that matching her success seems unattainable.
Research looking specifically at the impact of female role models on women’s desire to be leaders says the latter is often the case.
In one experiment, conducted by Crystal L. Hoyt, an associate professor of leadership studies and psychology at the University of Richmond, and a graduate student, Stefanie Simon, 60 female college students were told they were being asked to look at leaders’ influence on group productivity. In fact, the experiment was to see how the women were influenced by various role models.
The women were asked to assume the fictitious leadership role of president of the human resources department and lead a selection committee to hire a new junior associate.
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