After analyzing data compiled from around 10,000 workers over nearly 20 years, a research team led by Cornell University professor Beth Livingston reached the conclusion that "bad boys" earn more. Men who considered themselves "disagreeable" earned an average 18 percent more (9,772 U.S. dollars) than those deemed "agreeable." In the U.S., where each employee negotiates his or her annual salary with a company, men who are assertive and push for pay raises better fit the "strong masculinity" required by their organizations than nice guys.
The "bad boy" character played by actor Hyun Bin in the TV miniseries "Secret Garden" also has such traits. The character has little consideration for other people, cares nothing for them, and is even cold to others. He is only interested in achieving his goals and doing his business rather than develop good relationships. If things work out well, he becomes a leader who earns a good amount of money and carries out his work competently. Otherwise, he turns into a cold-blooded man who views others only as means to achieve his goals. As the type of person who cannot care less about whether he hurt others, he reminds some of Adolf Hitler.
Ordinary men fail to understand well why women are inadvertently attracted to bad boys. Does the bad boy in a TV drama suddenly become Mr. Right who has money, love and passion? Research has shown that self-assertive masculinity, aggressiveness and the will to succeed are closely connected with testosterone, the main male sex hormone. The scandal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, suggests that the Asian proverb "All great men are also great womanizers" is also true in the West.
The problem is that Livingston`s research was the result of a study of the past 20 years in the U.S. Gone are the days when people can say "Greed is good" is in the movie "Wall Street." At the height of the global financial crisis two years ago, GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said the era of meanness and greed was drawing to an end. The more IT advances, the greater power the ability of teamwork and networking has over personal abilities. In many cases, people with good character go higher and do greater things than those with good abilities, though Korean society and corporate culture have the problem of not tolerating the difficult traits of top talent.
Editorial Writer Kim Sun-deok (yuri@donga.com)