Is He Important, Or Just a Jerk?

Rude People Can Be Perceived as Powerful

Powerful people often bend the rules. But here’s a twist: If someone breaks rules, are they then perceived as powerful?

Scientists had 40 volunteers read various scenarios. One was about a person who, without asking, helped himself to a cup of coffee from another person’s pot. In another, a bookkeeper consciously ignored a financial error. The subjects also read about scrupulous coffee drinkers and bookkeepers. The subjects were then surveyed, and they rated the rule-breakers as being more in-control and leaderlike than the conscientious types. The research is in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science...

More often than not, I'll go with jerk.