CEOs emotionally unstable than others?
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 11 February 2010, 00:14 IST   |    21 Comments
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CEOs emotionally unstable than others?
Bangalore: Ask CEOs to pick their favorite color and what they select will often be very different than what most people would pick. A personality test conducted on CEOs recently has revealed that on average, they are 'more sensitive and private than the typical person, and more likely to be emotionally unstable." For the personality test conducted by USA Today, the CEOs were asked to rank their favorite colors, and their answers were then analyzed by an expert psychiatry professor. According to USA Today, many of the CEOs described the results as 'eerily accurate.' The test showed that CEOs were three times more likely than the average person to choose magenta as their color and significantly less likely to choose red or yellow. This led to the conclusion that CEOs 'are not as self-assured as the public at large, and they are more cooperative and less forceful than the typical person.' While the test confirmed that the CEOs are meant for 'upper management' positions, they also proved more likely to be 'social workers, artists and teachers,' and the typical CEO is actually well-suited to be an administrative assistant.' "CEOs see the big, bold and colorful picture and help others see the vision as well," said test-taker Edward Jennings, CEO of Copanion, which provides tax professionals with Web-based applications. "Leaders are storytellers, teachers and investors." Psychiatry professor Rense Lange says that no one knows why so much can be learned about a person by the colors they choose. Those answers are buried deep in neuroscience, he says, but it's just a matter of time before marketers will be able to target products to consumers based on color preferences.