Does Being "Difficult" Help Your Career?

Study: Martha Stewart Gets Bad Press Because She’s “Disagreeable”

2:19 pm, August 4th | by Amy Tennery

Now, I know we’re all still reeling from our Martha-Stewart-turns-70 hangovers but a new study came out that relates to her — and we just had to share.

The report, “Do Nice Guys — and Gals — Really Finish Last?” aims to answer an age-old question: if you’re nice to be around are you going to be less successful in business? And the cadre of business professors who compiled the study came to some surprising conclusions.

Okay, well maybe it’s not too surprising: according to them, the report shows being disagreeable works for guys — but not for women. But while this report might confirm what many have long-believed is true, one of the professors on the study, Norte Dame Management Professor Timothy Judge, told Physorg that this theory manifests itself in an interesting way in the real-life world of moguls. Here’s where Stewart factors in:

“If you’re a disagreeable man, you’re considered a tough negotiator. But, the perception is that if a woman is agreeable, she gets taken advantage of, and if she is disagreeable, she’s considered a control freak or ‘the B-word’”… Think about Martha Stewart and Donald Trump. They’re both tough people and, yet, I think Martha Stewart has gotten much more negative press and taken more grief because she’s a disagreeable woman.”

Now, we don’t mean to punch holes in this theory — but holding up Donald Trump as an example of someone who is less mocked for his disagreeable nature than others seems like a bit of a stretch. Still, he’s managed to translate his blustering argumentativeness into a persona and career, whereas, it would seem, that Stewart has found success by overcoming the “disagreeable” stigma, not by embracing it.

TAGS: challenges to women in business | discrimination in business | studies on women in business