I am short, 4’ 11”, but it has never bothered me. However, I was recently reading an article about entertainers, and they were speaking about how their height has been used against them in their industry. Most of the people in the article were male actors, around 5’ 7” tall, and they spoke about how they were turned down for roles, or even laughed at during auditions because of their height. It made me wonder, does shortness matter in today’s business world and how does it impact leadership.
What I found was surprising. Shortness has been found to affect your emotional state and confidence, which in turn impacts the perception people have on your ability to lead. If we look at power, as an example, Hughes et al. (2012) wrote how people portray power by gestures, staring, touching, crowding personal space and interrupting. Taking this into account, if you are a short person and are interacting with someone taller, you could be easily intimidated. The same would go if you were trying to discipline an employee; they potentially would not take you seriously due to your stature.
The average height of the CEO’s of fortune 500 companies is 6’ foot; this is approximately 2.5” inches taller than the average male (Choudhary, 2016). Nature has made us naturally gravitate towards people who we see as protectors, and height plays a role in that. There have been studies done that have found that every inch in height counts and on average each inch is worth $789 more per year (Dittman, 2004). I will have to say that I was dumbfounded by all the articles and studies that were done on the correlation between height and leadership abilities.
More surprising to me was I found a website called Short Guy Center (www.shortguycentral.com) that offers tips on how to be a short effective male leader. But, should I be surprised, probably not. We have heard about the phrase “Napoleon Complex” for many years. The definition of Napoleon Complex is “a popular belief that short men tend to compensate for their lack of height through domineering behavior and aggression” (McIlvenna, 2019). So, I can easily see where a short person must be more forceful to deliver a message or even to lead a team.
So, in closing, what I learned through this tirade of short people articles is that when you are short, you need to ensure that you have confidence. Confidence goes a long way in leadership. I also learned that as a leader you need to ensure that you are not performing height discrimination with your followers. We have to treat everyone equally and fairly, regardless of their stature.
Reference:
Choudhary, K. (2016, December 8). CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are on an average 2 ½ inches taller than an average American. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ceos-fortune-500-companies-average-2-inches-taller-than-choudhary
Dittmann, M. (2004). Standing tall pays off, study finds [Abstract]. American Psychological Association, 35(7), 14-14. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
McIlvenna, U. (Ed.). (2019, November 13). Was Napoleon SHORT? Origins of the ‘Napoleon Complex.’ Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-complex-short
Fonda Garcia says
The most reputable and highest earning doctor in the practice where I work would be considered “short” (about 5′ 6″) and the Napoleon complex has been mentioned by every staff member that has every worked in the practice. Everyone highly respects him and sees him as an effective leader despite his height. If just speaking of height and leadership, he definitely goes against the studies you’ve presented and the research I’ve encountered. According to Blaker et al. (2013), “tall individuals are seen as more leader-like than short individuals” and “the effect of height on leader perception is stronger for men than for women”. Perhaps my boss doesn’t fit the research because of confounding variables, a main one being that he’s a doctor of a pediatric practice thus being shorter may have the benefit of connecting with his patients more. Perhaps he does support the research because the staff is made up of women, most of which are shorter than him, thus supporting the research in a relative manner.
Reference
Blaker, N. M., Rompa, I., Dessing, I. H., Vriend, A. F., Herschberg, C., & van Vugt, M. (2013). The height leadership advantage in men and women: Testing evolutionary psychology predictions about the perceptions of tall leaders. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(1), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430212437211
ajv5386 says
Hi Jamie,
The correlation between height and leadership roles is very interesting. I think that it is unusual shortness can affect your emotional state and in turn, your confidence. I wonder if it could not only be the fact that short people could be less confident, but that quick people are not what comes to mind when people think about leaders. In our lessons about leadership trait theory, we learned that masculinity and dominance were among the traits that make great leaders (Northouse, 2016, p. 22). Even though these traits are not among the definitive leadership traits like intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Northouse, 2016, p. 23). People may be biased in thinking that by being taller, someone has qualities that make them a good leader. Even though that may not be the case.
Reference
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Brad Price says
I have always heard that when disciplining an employee, you should have the employee sit and you stand. This would be in-line with what you found. I do believe that we associate height with being in charge. That is probably why there use to be a height requirement for the Pennsylvania State Troopers. A state trooper had to be 6’ or higher. We do associate height with a person being a leader. It would be interesting to see the height of all the Presidents we have had.