Plus: Lying for the Job and Geomagnetic Storms as Art.

A Look at Company Leaders’ Personal Habits

CEOs and other senior leaders are more likely to brown-bag their lunch than they are to eat at a sit-down restaurant on their lunch break. In a recent survey of company leaders, 32 percent of respondents said they generally bring their lunch from home while 19 percent said they eat at a sit-down restaurant. Seventeen percent said they grab fast food on their lunch breaks.

Based on responses from more than 550 hiring managers in senior leadership roles (CEO, CFO, COO, Senior VP, etc.), CareerBuilder.com provides insights about the habits and characteristics of those working in the corner office.

When asked what they drink at happy hours or company parties, nearly one-third of respondents (32 percent) said they don’t drink alcoholic beverages at company events. Among those who do partake, wine (26 percent) and beer (22 percent) are the preferred beverages, followed by mixed drinks (18 percent), martinis (5 percent) and shots (3 percent).

When it comes to driving to work, respondents like to drive big cars. Senior leaders surveyed are more likely to drive SUVs to work (27 percent), followed by midsized sedans (22 percent), luxury sedans (15 percent), pickup trucks (9 percent), sports cars/convertibles (8 percent) and minivans (5 percent).

When asked how they part their hair, 31 percent of senior management leaders reported they part their hair on the right, compared with 27 percent who part their hair to the left and 9 percent who part it down the middle. Seven percent have a shaved or bald head.

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Credit: CareerBuilder.com

Would You Lie for the Job? Perhaps You’re a Creative Type

If a résumé looks too good to be true, it just might be, according to a recent survey by OfficeTeam.

Based on responses from 1,013 senior managers and 431 workers, 43 percent of managers this summer said they believe job seekers include dishonest information on their résumés somewhat or very often. At the same time, 21 percent of workers said they know someone who stretched the truth on these documents.

Job duties (58 percent) and education (34 percent) were cited as areas that are embellished most frequently.

According to a study published by the American Psychological Association last month, these same job seekers may also be the most creative — because the very same people possessing the intellectual spark to think “outside the box” when solving complicated problems may also be the ones who can more easily indulge in cheating and general dishonesty.

Based on a series of five experiments, lead researcher Francesca Gino of Harvard University and co-author Dan Ariely of Duke University determined that creative people are more likely to cheat than less creative people, possibly because this talent increases their ability to rationalize their actions.

“Greater creativity helps individuals solve difficult tasks across many domains, but creative sparks may lead individuals to take unethical routes when searching for solutions to problems and tasks,” Gino said in an announcement of the findings.

Science as Art

Geomagnetic storms occur when electrically charged particles discharged by solar wind interact with Earth’s magnetic field, and they’re responsible for the stunning light displays of the aurora borealis.

They also inspired the audiovisual feast below, titled 20 Hz.

Created by filmmakers Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt (collectively known as Semiconductor), the pair took radio interference caused by geomagnetic storms and measured by Canada’s CARISMA radio array and “converted it — first into sound, and then into an accompanying animation — to create a piece of art that is simultaneously beautiful and bone-chilling,” science and sci-fi blog io9 explains.

Cheers.