We all need a hero

By Maheen A. Rashdi

Looks definitely do matter. While rehashing Obama’s ascent to the world’s top job for the umpteenth time, my friend suddenly declared, “I don’t think he would have won if he was short, fat and had a large wart on his nose!” Hoping that no Democrat supporters were close by at the coffee shop where we were having this rather loud discussion, I replied, “That is not very complimentary to his abilities, you know.” But she refused to accept that pure merit and ability would outshine an unpleasant look.
It will of course never be known if Senator Barrack Obama would have become President elect despite having a nervous tick or an ugly wart on a short, fat body, but one thing is fact that he has made it to Hello!’s list of hot celebrities because he looks so darn good.

Recent turn of events on the Canadian political front have made me think that perhaps there is some reality in my superfluous friend’s deduction. Canada’s recently re-elected Prime Minister, Stephen Harper’s government was challenged last week by a possible coalition of the opposition parties who threatened to overthrow him by coming out as a joint majority. Harper, I must add here is a handsome man with the proverbial blue eyes and blond hair, and he is not yet fifty. So when Harper made an appearance on national Canadian TV to ‘appeal’ to the citizens’ calmer sense to help him stay at the top, he was bound to overshadow the opposition leader, Liberal party’s Stephane Dion, who is inarticulate in the English language and has little to give him suavity. His address for many reasons turned into a fiasco and his political promises could not even save his two-year leadership which ended with a very unattractive media byte. Despite a wild attempt, Dion could not pass of as a hero saving the day for Canadians. Harper on the other hand kept that smile on his handsome face, getting a breather as the opposition busied itself in changing their leader and fixing the party’s image, by bringing in a stronger personality.

Many instances come to mind when looks and persona have made a success of a man in position. Our ex-President’s out-of-uniform and into a sherwani gambit is one example. The erstwhile leader almost blinded the entire Indian press corps when he landed on Indian soil and entered the dreamy Agra setting around the gardens of the Taj Mahal to discuss peace, decked out in designer wear. Ignoring their own leader’s political acumen and vast experience, they fell hook, line and sinker, beguiled by our General’s gift of the gab and drooling over his commando physique adorned in Amir Adnan’s gold worked sherwanis. Let’s face it, General Pervez Musharraf got himself out of many a tight spot by oozing charm on the adversary. He really knew how to. It definitely had me smitten when he came out of the barracks and onto our political scene holding his dogs in his ‘buff’ arms, playing the hero, come to save us from ourselves. But that was many, many foolish edicts ago and before his arrogance kicked in to start his every sentence with me and I. His example is perhaps one of the best as a recent case in point on how to use charm for leadership and how not to let it get to your head!
Today, many work places have become lax in their dress codes allowing almost a bohemian style to parade through their corridors. But a few specimen from the old guard who haven’t yet been edged out by some brash young over achiever still look down on an underdressed junior who hasn’t shaved in the morning.
I remember when Zia-ul-Haq made the shalwar qameez and waistcoat get-up a compulsory mode of dress for government offices, my father did nothing but fume for days, abusing the uncouth general’s rustic background and zero sense of finesse! However, despite being incensed, he and many other government servants like him ended up shedding their European cut suits for the national dress, which eventually became much modernized and not-so-despised.
Whether we like it or not, the way we look has a high possibility of shaping people’s opinion of us and our competencies, and of shaping our careers. So anyone about to go for an interview, it would be good to iron the best suit. And if you are a woman, some demure dressing would be in order. In this age of emancipation it might be perfectly acceptable to go around showing off a pierced belly button, but it would not give as professional a vibe as a business suit would.
Leadership is about getting attention and then holding it. Good leaders need to look good. Going out there with your best look forward, smiling that easy (much practiced) smile, might win anyone half their game.
But coming back to the argument of whether a short, fat man would have made it to the Oval office – may be, but not as a first, black man. It WAS Obama’s charisma which made his voters stop and look at his competencies.
Leading men and women need followers which have to be wooed by charm and intellect. That in no way means that because intellect comes in second it has any less importance. If that were so, Republicans would now be preparing for their ninth year in office. But as it happened, when people had got Sarah Palin’s gorgeous attention – she opened her mouth and talked! The rest is now well and truly history.