Height is overrepresented among executives but not among founders

Evidence

Such judgment heuristics can have very real effects on people’s lives. For example, in the early 2000s, only 14.5% of all American men were taller than 1.83 m (6 ft), but among top executives at the largest companies, 58% were . A clear correlation between height and income can also be demonstrated for men and women in Germany . In the case of women, it is also noticeable that slimmer women achieve a higher income on average . This is especially true for positions where leadership skills are more important than technical qualifications. The effect also only occurs with employed managers, not with successful company founders such as Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) or Sergey Brin (Google), who are all below average in height. So body size apparently has a halo effect on perceived leadership quality, where a substantive relationship would be hard to justify factually. — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 168

Categorization

• SHARE: The 14.5% of American men over 6ft but 58% of Fortune-500 execs stat is a classic one to send to an HR or leadership-contact.