Argument194 左撇子适合做生意【求拍，有拍必回】

爱上千年的猫UID: 2476232

Argument194: 433 words   30 minutes
A recent study suggests that people who are left-handed are more likely to succeed in business than are right-handed people. Researchers studied photographs of 1,000 prominent business executives and found that 21 percent of these executives wrote with their left hand. So the percentage of prominent business executives who are left-handed (21 percent) is almost twice the percentage of people in the general population who are left-handed (11 percent). Thus, people who are left-handed would be well advised to pursue a career in business, whereas people who are right-handed would be well advised to imitate the business practices exhibited by left-handers.

The author recommends left-handed people to pursue a career in business, whereas right-handed people should imitate left-handers about their business practices. To support this recommendation, the author cites a recent study which involves 1000 prominent business executives. The result of the survey shows the percentage of prominent left-handed business executives is almost twice the percentage of people in the general population who are left-handed. However, this evidence poorly supports the author's recommendation, for the survey suffers from several critical flaws.

To begin with, the way in which researchers decide whether one is left-handed is whether they wrote with his/her left hand according his/her photo, which is largely unreliable. It is quite possible that some of those who appear to be left-handers on the photos just happen to catch a pen in their left hands when the photos are taken. And writing with left hand does not necessarily mean they are left-handers. In my observation, some right-handers love to use their left hand to write in purpose of exercising their right side brain. Thus, the study does not offer a consolidated base on which to draw any firm conclusions.

Secondly, the result of the study only compares the percentage of left-handed executives and of left-handers in general population, while providing no information about the similar comparison in the right-handed world. If the former percentage is even large than the latter percentage in the right-handed world, we can not conclude that left-handers are more likely to be successful in business.

Thirdly, common sense tells us that success is the result of various reasons. Education, or even luckiness, would be of great importance. Without proving those executives are identical in all other aspects, it is unfair to say that left-handedness is a main factor to achieve success.

Finally, the author does not provide evidence to support his/her second recommendation, that is, the right-handed should imitate left-handed. As we just discussed, many other factors will determine the success in business. Even if left-handedness is one of them, right-handed can still improve their quality in other aspects instead of imitate the business practices exhibited by left-handers. They can pursue a better education, for instance.

In sum, the study offered as evidence fails to support the following conclusions, for its statistical reliability is in doubt. To better assess the argument, we need information about the percentage of right-handed as well. Without ruling out other factors that lead to success in business, the author’s recommendation is unpersuasive.