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The taller
you are, the more money you make, according to “Blink”, the
new bestseller from Malcolm Gladwell. That’s because height
translates into an intangible, highly valuable, quality of
leadership presence, according to the book.
While
Speechworks can’t help you get taller, we can certainly help
you communicate in a way that makes you come across with more
presence and even look taller. Over time, that might
well translate into more cash in your pocket.
Specifically, we suggest that people do two things to give
themselves greater leadership presence.
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Raise your
chair during meetings. With today’s adjustable chairs,
no one should have to give up a height advantage to anyone
else. If you are “altitude impaired”, add instant inches by adjusting your chair.
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When
standing, make big gestures. Reaching out and holding out
your arms during a presentation can make you look bigger.
Such small
things can make a substantial difference to your bank
account. According to Gladwell,
taller people make more money and are more likely to get
promoted than others. In his book, Gladwell polled about
half of the Fortune 500 companies and found that most of the CEOs were tall.
In my sample, I found that on average CEOs were just a shade
under six feet. Given that the average American male is 5'9,
that means that CEOs, as a group, have about three inches on
the rest of their sex. But this statistic actually understates
matters. In the U.S. population, about 14.5 percent of all men
are 6 feet or over. Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that
number is 58 percent. Even more strikingly, in the general
American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are 6'2 or
taller. Among my CEO sample, 30 percent were 6'2 or taller.
Gladwell
also points to studies showing that an inch of height
generally translates to an additional $789 a year in salary.
Indeed, at
Speechworks, our experience is that height is one aspect of
leadership presence. Of course, we're not suggesting that you go out
and buy shoes that add inches to your height. But you can
neutralize that disadvantage by taking action to give yourself
more leadership presence.
At
Speechworks we help our clients learn how to communicate in a
way that connects and persuades. If you’re interested in
becoming a great communicator give us a call at 404-266-0888
or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
