Musings of a Man of the Left

I'm left-handed. I've always suspected that also means I think differently from most other people; ceertainly, I do think differently from other people. There are odd little hints, like being able to read upside down or sideways almost as easily as right-side-up. I remember once, as treasurer of the Editors Association of Canada, sitting at a table with all the other former treasurers of that institution, and we were all left-handed. This seemed to hint at some definite mental characteristic we all shared that was also expressed on our handedness—perhaps a mental versatility, or a readiness to take something on.

It is not so easy to find treasurers among editors.

The research gives some more hints; but we really know nothing. Anything apparently proven by one study is disproven by the next. After a scan of the information available online, though, a few things seem to me fairly solid:

1.Left-handed men, on average, earn more than right-handers—26% more for college graduates. This is not true for left-handed women.
2.At the higher reaches of IQ, left-handers become much more common. They double their proportion at 140 IQ (Mensa level), and outnumber right-handers at the highest levels, although they are only about 10% of the general population.
3.Left-handers do not live as long as right-handers. This has been vehemently denied, but I think most of that denial is denial, so to speak. Not only do studies tracing specific populations suggest this, but as the population ages, the overall proportion of left-handers seems to drop. There are fewer left-handed fifty-year-olds than left-handed thirty-year-olds, and fewer left-handed eighty-year-olds than fifty-year-olds.
4.Among famous people generally, left-handers are disproportionately represented. The list of famous left-handers is almost a historical Who's Who.

5.If lefties stand out in any field more than others, it seems to be in positions of leadership. This has come to the fore recently with the realization that a disproportionate number of recent US presidents are left-handed: Truman, Ford, Reagan, Clinton, Bush Sr., and Obama. Then one looks back into history, and discovers a pretty impressive list of other left-handed world leaders:

Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
Charlemagne
William the Conqueror
Joan of Arc
Napoleon
Nelson
Bolivar
Victoria
Bismarck
Churchill
Gandhi
Patton

This is especially impressive when one remembers that, until the present century, left-handedness was actively suppressed, and much less common than today.

In a simliar category are these left-favouring captains of industry:

John D. Rockefeller
Henry Ford
Bill Gates
Steve Jobs

One other field perhaps stands out above the others for left-handers. Trial lawyers:

Clarence Darrow
F. Lee Bailey
Melvin Belli

Of course, these lists are less impressive when you realize how dominant left-handers are in nearly all fields. Name a famous person, and you name a famous left-hander—or it almost seems so.

You've probably already heard all that left-brain-right-brain crap. Problem is, that's just what it is—crap. Nobody knows what it really means to be “left-brained” or “right-brained,” or if anyone really is either.

A lot of this can be explained by the environmental results of being left-handed. Even if handedness does not relate at all to any mental inclination or brain structure, it takes a certain scrappiness, a determination to stick with your instincts against the social world, in order to remain so. As a result, possibly, lefties tend to be self-motivated, thence to have an air of self-possession. They are also, if they stay left-handed, obviously not inclined to shrink from a fight. They must think for themselves, and believe in their own instincts.

This insistence on sticking to one's principles and refusal to back down from a fight probably takes its toll physically: in terms of stress, and in terms of facing down the odd railway locomotive. Hence, perhaps, the shorter lifespan.

Still, not everything fits on this thesis. It doesn't really explain the IQ difference. Nor, as we have noted elsewhere, does high IQ ordinarily correspond with positions of leadership, as it seems to here.

In any case, choosing lefties for leaders is probably a good idea for the rest of us. First, they seem more capable of getting past the prejudice against smart leaders. Second, they seem to demonstrate a certain courage, if not always a moral courage, that is important in leadership. While we might not all approve of every name on the list of famous lefties, it is reassuring to find that it contains none of the true monsters of history: no Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Pol Pot, Vlad the Impaler; not even a conniving Nixon.

Which brings up a final reason to prefer lefties for leaders: the alternative—the other personality type most inclined to drive for leadership—is the self-aggrandizing psychopath. Not that all right-handers in leadership are this type, but it is an extremely common type in leadership, and going with a lefty is pretty strong assurance that this is not the case.

A few other famous lefties:

Bob Dylan
Charlie Chaplin
Beethoven
Mozart
Aristotle
Newton
Darwin
Goethe
Twain
Michelangelo
Da Vinci
Raphael