Can you change your personality to make more money?

See Can an Entire Generation Change Its Personality? Self-confidence and sociability rise in young Finnish men; the labor-pool question by Susan Pinker in the WSJ. Excerpts:

"What struck researchers the most was that self-confidence, sociability and leadership motivation all rose on average from the group of men born in 1962 to those born in 1976. Striving, deliberation and dutifulness crept up too, though not as much. Levels of intelligence or family income didn’t seem to be driving these generational shifts, given that they surfaced at all cognitive levels and social strata.

And here’s the kicker: When the researchers compared personality scores when the men entered the draft with earnings at age 30 to 34, they found that even small upward shifts in personality ratings predicted a higher income 10 years later—with the 1976 group earning as much as 12% more than its 1962 counterpart, when other factors such as inflation, overall wage rises and education were stripped away."

"U.S. college students have become more outgoing, self-confident and self-absorbed—though that last trait may not be quite as positive as the others."