I was at Chapters a little while ago, and while browsing through one of the isles, when something struck me. There were two books, both bestsellers, both featuring bald heads on the cover. A coincidence maybe? At first I thought so but then I began to wonder if there was more it, if i was on to something? I took another look through the Amazon bestseller lists, and was able to come up with a few other books featuring bald authors on the cover. These books obviously do well as a result of the quality of thought and writing, but the pattern seems just too compelling to ignore. Some of the bestsellers I came across included:

• Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad Life
• Total Money Makeover - Financial Fitness
• Many of Seth Godin’s books (Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Idea Virus, All Marketers are Liars)

Then I also came across an article in USA Today which indicated that a recent survey of CEOs found that being bald is a business advantage.

“The CEOs felt that baldness conveyed leadership presence. Steve Carley, the bald CEO of restaurant chain El Pollo Loco, told the newspaper that his baldness is “a point of pride and a personal branding advantage. … It encourages approachability.”

Apparently bald men are also a bigger slice of the general population, with The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery estimating that 50% of Caucasian men older than 45 and 60% older than 60 have clinical balding.

Regardless of this plausible link between baldness and conveyed leadership/approachability, not to mention some very real brand benefits, I don’t think I’ll be shaving my head any time soon. For those of you who are already balding and considering ways of covering it up, just shave the rest of it off. There’s never been a better time to go bald!