They say there’s no accounting for taste. That phrase was most likely invented by people who are not sensitive to beauty. Those who care about beauty pay attention to colours, shapes, proportions, symmetry, quality and harmony – combining all of these into one coherent whole. Beauty is a criterion for consumer choices, for choosing life partners and for how we want to present ourselves to others. A strong sense of aesthetics will go hand in hand with self-worth. People sensitive to beauty will want to be in beautiful surroundings and surround themselves with beautiful objects.
Beauty in art, literature and culture is widely discussed. Beauty as a value will also strongly influence behaviour, strategies and, above all, decisions.
Beauty as a value is not usually associated with the work environment, but this is very tricky: people sensitive to beauty may not want to work in the following situations:
an ugly office
ugly work uniforms
being forced to use ugly documents, machines or materials
a badly dressed boss who doesn’t care about aesthetics won’t command authority either.
People with little sensitivity to beauty, on the other hand, will be frustrated when the work environment forces them to:
Fuss over their work outfit – they may be blind to differences in colour, texture and shape.
Focus on and discuss for hours the colour of a leaflet or the placement of a logo or photo in a brochure.
Polish reports and documentation in terms of fonts, colours, justification, and the type and colours used in charts.
On Schwartz’s circle of values, however, we won’t find beauty as a value, and it is hard to find links with other values. We could consider values such as face, hedonism or stimulation – hedonism understood as giving oneself pleasure by surrounding oneself with beauty, although for some hedonism is pleasure achieved by other means.
We find beauty much more quickly in Józef Kozielecki’s hierarchies of values, because Apollo, the god of beauty, science and art, was a lover of beauty.
Devoting time to contemplating art, creating and spreading it, and taking pride in beauty – all this can be found in the Apollonian approach. In antiquity, everything beautiful was also considered good. Beauty was strongly evaluated in terms of good and evil. Today, too, beauty arouses desire and attracts us. We associate low aesthetics with terms such as sloppiness and a lack of professionalism.
Beauty as a value doesn’t exist in Edgar Schein’s career anchors either.
Steven Reiss describes beauty as the need to be in beautiful surroundings. It is equivalent to a sense of aesthetics and noticing attractive elements around oneself. Such people usually know what design and artistry mean. At the other end of Reiss’s continuum lie usefulness and pragmatism. Not every beautiful thing is equally functional. People with a low need for beauty make decisions more through the lens of functionality than aesthetic impressions. They may notice beauty, but it doesn’t matter to them so much that its absence makes them uncomfortable.
How to recognise people for whom a high need for beauty is a motivator?
Decorating rooms with beautiful objects, redecorating, shopping in galleries to find a beautiful object – these are among their favourite activities.
They pay attention to how attractive their workplace, home and surroundings are.
Colours and their composition matter; they can discuss the difference between two colours at length.
They notice differences in proportions.
They are very interested in art, mainly visual art such as graphic design, painting, sculpture and architecture.
They devote a lot of time to adapting their surroundings to their needs.
How to recognise people for whom a low need for beauty is a motivator?
They don’t pay attention to aesthetic aspects around them. If asked, they can notice them, but they don’t direct their attention to them of their own accord.
They don’t seek to beautify the world around them.
When visiting others, they don’t notice how their home is decorated.
They get bored in art galleries and at shows.
They don’t notice subtle changes in other people’s appearance or their own.
Paying compliments – telling someone they look nice in something and the like – is rare for them. They would probably never do it spontaneously.
What to do to satisfy a strong need for beauty?
Take care of the attractiveness of the rooms where employees work. The view from the window will also matter. They like to have a say in how their work environment looks. They appreciate creativity, especially in visual activities. They will look for work that uses artistic skills, taste and a sense of aesthetics.
What to do to satisfy a low need for beauty?
Give them a simple workplace, clean in form, that won’t distract them from the essentials. Don’t clutter it with objects. Every object should have a function and be practical, as needed. Don’t make them discuss leaflets or posters – for them it will be a waste of time.
How do people who need beauty see those who don’t?
People with a strong need for beauty consider themselves aesthetes and romantics with an artistic soul. They look at others as mundane, unemotional creatures whose world is empty and cold.
On the other hand, people with a low need for beauty consider themselves matter-of-fact and made for higher purposes than colours. They prefer an ascetic approach so as not to be distracted from the essence of life. To them, beauty lovers are hedonists driven by pleasures, often empty inside.
A need or value is not a competency.
A low need for beauty doesn’t mean blindness to beauty. You can learn to analyse beauty, but when making choices it will never be the main argument. Such a person won’t perceive aesthetic impressions intuitively either; they will appreciate them only if they deliberately pay attention to them. Beauty, although an underrated value, is a strong factor in making life and career choices. It is worth considering it from time to time.
