We like to believe that business is a meritocracy.
Experience, judgment, leadership, creativity and results should determine how someone is perceived professionally. A few gray hairs or lines around the eyes shouldn’t change the way we evaluate someone’s ability to lead a company, land a client or contribute in a meeting.
But human beings don’t form impressions based on résumés alone. We notice faces. We make assumptions. And research suggests those assumptions can influence how we perceive qualities ranging from competence to employability.
That raises an uncomfortable question: Does looking younger give men an advantage in business? The answer is more complicated than it might seem.
Research has found evidence of both attractiveness bias and age discrimination in the workplace. But that is very different from saying that looking younger makes someone better at his job or that changing one’s appearance will produce professional success.
The distinction is at the heart of what could be called the “Business Face”: the increasing awareness among professional men of how appearance, aging and professional identity intersect.
We Make Judgments Faster Than We Realize
Long before someone has demonstrated how capable, trustworthy or experienced they are, we’ve already formed an impression. Appearance is part of that process.
A meta-analysis published in Personnel Psychology examined experimental research on physical attractiveness and employment-related outcomes. Researchers found an overall attractiveness bias across a variety of job-related judgments, with more attractive individuals generally receiving more favorable outcomes than less attractive individuals.
Perhaps more surprisingly, the researchers found that the effect applied to both men and women, and professionals making employment-related judgments were not immune to the bias.
That doesn’t mean attractive people are actually more competent. It means they can sometimes be perceived more favorably. And perception is where the Business Face conversation gets interesting.
What Does “Looking Younger” Actually Mean?
When people talk about wanting to look younger professionally, they may not literally mean they want to erase 10 or 20 years from their face. Often, words like younger are shorthand for something else: energetic, rested, healthy, engaged or current.
Dr. Douglas Steinbrech has spent much of his career working in male aesthetics and observing how men think about aging and appearance. He is the author and editor of Male Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, a 614-page medical reference devoted specifically to aesthetic procedures for men, and currently serves as Treasurer/Secretary of The Aesthetic Society.
“When professional men seek a consultation, they rarely want to erase the maturity reflected in their appearance. Rather than simply looking younger, many want to look more rested, energetic and refreshed.” Dr. Steinbrech said.
That difference matters.
A 58-year-old executive may have no desire to look 38. His age may be an asset, reflecting decades of experience and credibility. What may bother him instead is looking exhausted on camera after a full night’s sleep or feeling that his appearance doesn’t match his energy level.
That’s less about disguising age than managing how age is perceived.
Age Bias Is Part of the Equation
There is another reason this conversation can’t simply be reduced to vanity: ageism exists in the workplace.
One of the largest U.S. field experiments on age discrimination examined more than 40,000 job applications. Researchers found robust evidence of age discrimination against older women, particularly those approaching retirement age, although the evidence of discrimination against older men was considerably weaker.
That gender difference is important, especially in a discussion centered on men. We shouldn’t take research showing significant age discrimination in one population and automatically assume men experience it identically.
Other international research, however, points to broader age-related effects. A Swedish field experiment sent more than 6,000 fictitious résumés for applicants ages 35 to 70 and found that callback rates began declining substantially for workers in their 40s and became particularly low near retirement age. Researchers also found that stereotypes surrounding an older worker’s ability to learn new tasks, flexibility and ambition appeared to play a role.
Those stereotypes help explain why the Business Face question is so complicated.
If qualities such as energy, flexibility and ambition are incorrectly associated with youth, then the problem isn’t aging. The problem is the assumption.
The Experience Paradox
There is also something contradictory about how we view age in business. We want senior executives to have experience. We value people who have navigated economic downturns, built companies, managed crises, developed teams and spent decades learning their industries. Yet, some of the visual characteristics associated with gaining that experience; gray hair, wrinkles, changes in skin and other natural signs of aging can also trigger assumptions about declining energy or relevance.
That creates what might be called an experience paradox: we value the knowledge that comes with age while sometimes responding negatively to visible signs of the aging that produced it.
For men, who historically have faced less appearance pressure than women in professional settings, that tension may be becoming more noticeable as careers grow longer and professional life becomes increasingly visual.
When Professional Presentation Becomes Appearance Pressure
There is an important line here. Professional men have always managed their appearance. They buy suits before interviews. They get haircuts before important meetings. They exercise, whiten their teeth, update eyeglasses and choose professional headshots. But, once looking youthful begins to feel like a requirement for remaining competitive, the conversation changes.
Should a 60-year-old executive really have to look 50 to be viewed as energetic? Should gray hair suggest wisdom while wrinkles suggest decline? And should workers bear responsibility for changing their appearance because other people hold biased assumptions about aging?
Those are uncomfortable questions, but they’re necessary ones.
Research into age discrimination suggests the solution can’t simply be telling older professionals to look younger. Employers also have a responsibility to recognize the assumptions they may make about older workers.
Research examining language in job advertisements has even found that age-related stereotypes reflected in job postings can be associated with discriminatory hiring patterns.
The goal should be eliminating those biases, not asking workers to accommodate them.
So, Does Looking Younger Help?
The research doesn’t support a simple conclusion that looking younger causes professional success. What it does show is more subtle.
Physical appearance can affect employment-related judgments. Age discrimination exists in parts of the labor market. And people sometimes associate visual cues with characteristics such as energy, competence or employability even when those cues tell us little about someone’s actual ability. But correlation and perception are not causation.
There is no responsible basis for telling a man that looking younger will earn him a promotion, increase his salary or make him a better leader.
“Career success comes from experience, ability and the value you bring to your work. Feeling good about your appearance may boost confidence, but aesthetic treatment is a personal choice, not a requirement for professional success.” Dr. Steinbrech noted.
