Sorry Hon, You Ain't Pretty Enough to Make It!

Maybe that's the case in celebrity culture. But I presume you've seen pictures of Bill Gates?

There's probably some connection between good looks and career success up to a point, but I find it interesting that the drive to get super rich often seems to be powered, at least in part, by some physical abnormality - or the kid who was picked on in school, for example.

For what it's worth, I've always thought Tony Robbins looked like a giant gargoyle.

A few thoughts.

The "Before" photos are sometimes made to look far worse than they really are. Or the photo was taken at a clinic, after a week of debauchery.

The "After" photos can be retouched.

Here is a secret that most people don't know. Many times, the Before and After photos were taken the same day. Grooming, make-up, posture, lighting, holding your stomach in after sticking it out, smiling. I've seen bodybuilding course ads where the before and after photos were taken the same day.

But generally, beautiful people have a big advantage in getting a job.

The bad news is that beautiful people don't have to try as hard as ugly people to get the same results. The people who are compensating (for looks or personality) tend to work harder, if they are even going to be average.

But...in entrepreneurship, looks don't matter much. And they matter less in men than they do in women. As long as you aren't repugnant, looks matter less than you might think. Grooming matters, posture matters, confidence matters. But even these things matter less than being able to perform.

Think of it this way. It's not so much that the good looking people get ahead. It's that the people who are driven, tend to take care of themselves to have the energy to give a better effort. So they end up looking healthier, on average.

About weight. I'm about 80 pounds overweight. I still do really well, because my work doesn't take much energy. But when I was selling in the field, an extra 80 pounds would have made a huge difference in my energy level. And it would have hurt sales....not because I look heavy, but because I would have given it less effort.

And Robbins' appeal is strongly related to appearance. He talks about self image, drive, ambition...and those people tend to be healthier. and healthier people simply look better.

And in these success stories, the "Before" story is usually far more pathetic than the reality. Every Guru makes his before story sound far worse than it really was, to create the contrast...and sell the transformation

And they oversell their success. Sorry, but it's human nature..

Added later; My own experience training hundreds of salespeople is that being obese hurts, because of the energy loss.

But I've seen salespeople who were incredibly handsome or beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen them do better because of their looks.

I once had a beautiful sales rep that was so stunning that it was distracting, and hurt her sales.

Ben Feldman, the greatest life insurance salesman that ever lived...was short, stooped shouldered, talked with a lisp, and was painfully shy. The best salesman I ever met (who sold me furniture during a recession) was short, walked with a limp, and looked like Columbo.

In a photo, these guys look tragic. But once they give eye contact, and start talking, all that goes away.

Well its not about the good looks but when someone it looks very good it has more confidence to succed in life .Thats my point

Not an outlier.

Some people are striking. Some people just attract attention by their looks. Once they have your attention, they show you what they are made of.

There is a difference between being unusual looking and being disgusting to look at....or unpleasant to be around.

Danny DeVito is short, and maybe not handsome...but he isn't repellant to look at. And once you are acceptable in looks, anything beyond that helps less than you might think...except in photos.

Then hire the pretties.

Cosmic Master LOA : once the spiritual is taken care of beauty will come.r.