The Lawyers Weekly - November 11, 2011

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
November 11, 2011 | 21

BUSINESS
CAREERS

Nice guys
do finish last

BY JEREMY HAINSWORTH

ID-WORK / ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

“They may also be looked on as more intelligent because their
disagreement may be considered as a stronger analysis of the situation.”
“

John Ohnjec, Robert Half Legal

Legendary baseball manager Leo Durocher once said, “Nice guys finish last.” And, while we all presumably like to get along, a new study indicates that disagreeable people tend to do better in business, and that men are ahead of women in that regard.

“Nice guys do not necessarily
finish last, but they do finish a
distant second in terms of earn-
ings,” says the report from a trio
of researchers at U.S. and Can-
adian universities. “Yet, seen
from the perspective of gender
equity, even the nice guys seem to
be making out quite well relative
to either agreeable or disagree-
able women.”
But, says John Ohnjec of law-
yer recruiting firm Robert Half
Legal, such behaviour may influ-
ence people in the short run but
it may not be a wise strategy in
the long term.

Nor will it win you friends, he says.

“In any office or legal field, our lone wolf doesn’t really have friends”, nor is that person “ winning any but that’s not their goal,” Ohnjec says.

Indeed, Ohnjec says, there’s also a fine line between being a jerk and being assertive — although that is often blurred depending on how it is presented or handled.

Further, he adds, the disagree-
able person’s trait of aggression is
often considered a desirable trait
in a lawyer. However, he adds,
they often don’t contribute to a
healthy work environment and
might need to be dealt with by
seniors who may not be willing to
discipline someone whose dis-
agreeableness makes them a
good producer.