Hiring practices favor young, attractive, tall, gregarious leaders. Should they?

I wonder about hiring practices in all businesses, but particularly in schools.  We know that leadership matters in student success, yet sometimes that doesn't show up in hiring practices. What are the criteria used to ensure both technical expertise and leadership skills of the school leaders we hire? Have we defined them? Once we define them, do we use them when we hire and promote? Who gets hired? Are we clear about what we expect? Do we support those hires so they and the staff can be successful as they focus on student success? 

I notice an unsettling trend borne out in the research. In this article in Forbes "Think Looks Don't Matter, Think Again," Laura Sinberg notes, "Women who advance most at work, studies agree, are more attractive, thinner, taller and have a more youthful appearance than their female colleagues who are promoted less often."  https://www.forbes.com/2009/12/05/appearance-work-pay-forbes-woman-leadership-body-weight.html 

Joe Pinsker writes in The Atlantic about "The Financial Perks of Being Tall, "In Western countries, a jump from the 25th percentile of height to the 75th—about four or five inches—is associated with an increase in salary between 9 and 15 percent. Another analysis suggests that an extra inch is worth almost $800 a year in elevated earnings. “If you take this over the course of a 30-year career and compound it,” one researcher told Malcolm Gladwell for his book Blink, “we’re talking about a tall person enjoying literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of earnings advantage.”  (https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/05/the-financial-perks-o being-tall/393518/) 

And then there's the problem of introverts. In her article "Introverts Pose a Problem for Hirers"  in The Financial Times Hazel Davis writes,  "Yet organisations are more likely to hire individuals who 'relish social life, and are energised by interacting with friends and strangers' – people who are assertive, go-getting, and able to seize the day'. These descriptions of introverts and extroverts are taken from the website of Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. She believes institutions are so geared up to hiring extroverts that the best candidates do not always get the job." https://www.ft.com/content/34d170a2-4c56-11e3-923d-00144feabdc0
There are many sources that help schools determine what they should be looking for when hiring school leaders.  The Wallace Foundation notes:http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Pages/The-Effective-Principal.aspx

"What makes an effective principal? A decade of Wallace Foundation-supported research and work in school districts and states suggests that five practices are key to helping principals improve teaching and learning in their schools:

1. Shaping a vision of academic success for all students, one based on high standards;
2. Creating a climate hospitable to education so safety, a cooperative spirit and other foundations of fruitful interaction prevail;
3. Cultivating leadership in others so teachers and other adults assume their part in realizing the school vision;
4. Improving instruction to enable teachers to teach at their best and students to learn at their utmost; and
5. Managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement."

Nick Morrison wrote an article in Forbes, "The Eight Characteristics of Effective School Leaders," and shared these, not substantially different from the Wallace list.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2013/12/30/the-eight-characteristics-of-effective-school-leaders/#1a99a1b59762

1. "They have consistent, high expectations and are very ambitious for the success of their pupils.
2. They constantly demonstrate that disadvantage need not be a barrier to achievement.
3. They focus relentlessly on improving teaching and learning with very effective professional development of all staff.
4. They are expert at assessment and the tracking of pupil progress with appropriate support and intervention based upon a detailed knowledge of individual pupils.
5. They are highly inclusive, having complete regard for the progress and personal development of every pupil.
6. They develop individual students through promoting rich opportunities for learning both within and out of the classroom.
7. They cultivate a range of partnerships particularly with parents, business and the community to support pupil learning and progress.
8. They are robust and rigorous in terms of self-evaluation and data analysis with clear strategies for improvement."

Think about Hettie on NCIS. She's small, not particularly attractive, seemingly an introvert, and old. On the other side of the coin, she has leadership coming out of her pores, as well as great technical knowledge about her craft. The characters do whatever impossible task she asks within a timeline. They are occasionally annoyed with her, but have great respect for her judgment and character. While Hettie is a fictional character, is there a message to all of us in what to look for in an employee? 

One leader I knew in the course of my career was a solid introvert. As new leaders came and went, this administrator did the job, focused on student learning, used data extensively, supported teachers in their professional learning and being successful classroom leaders,  reached out to the community and the school. This person exemplifiedthe leadership and technical expertise necessary to move the school in a positive direction. Yet, this leader was never hired as the lead principal. Too quiet. Too unassuming. Too introverted to take credit. As lead principals were hired again and again - extroverted, good looking, prolific talkers -  they received the credit for what was this person's behind the scenes, solid work. 

In my work in schools, I have seen many effective administrators exhibiting all sorts of character and physical traits. This piece is certainly not written in the spirit of getting rid of good looking, tall, male extroverts.  And it also isn't a plea to hire short, unattractive, old, female introverts. It IS a plea to determine what it is you want the new hire to do, and then work to find someone who has the technical expertise and the leadership skills to do what you need, no matter how they look or their personality type.