Presidential Height Madness

Each year magazines trot out their "It sucks to be a short man" story.   Almost every story on height gleeful points to research showing that the taller presidential candidate wins.  Not so fast!  Today, Hillary Clinton is the shortest candidate in the field and is the front runner-- so maybe height isn't such a big deal? In fact, the shorter candidate often wins.  In fact eight of the last 26 campaigns were won by the shorter candidate. That's 30% and when Hillary wins which is likely that number goes up. 

So what happened here? The media is spinning the story to make it sound like the taller candidate ALWAYS wins....Bullshit!   Clearly, being short doesn't preclude anyone from being the leader of the free world, making big bucks, or finding a killer girlfriend/spouse.  

While it's probably true that taller candidates win a bit more, it is absolutely one of the MOST misleading examples one could give.  Do not let this depress you unless the only job you seek is POTUS.  Here is some good data. .https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heights_of_presidents_and_presidential_candidates_of_the_United_States  

Here is my take: I think it's fair to say that the race for president involves one of the most scrutinized and highly visible competitions that exists on planet earth. 

Not only must candidates be experienced, good looking, they must also be smart, in shape, great communicators, amazing networkers, and extremely charismatic on TV. They usually have great hair – – and lots of funding and often they have been born into great wealth or a political dynasty like George Bush. I guess you could say – – that Mitt Romney looks like a president yet he was beaten by someone who actually didn't look like any president that had come before – – Barack Obama.  So F looks!  And James Madison was 5'4" tall when he became president of United States of America.

The fact is that many, many characteristics add up to whether or not someone gets elected. But the only research I seem to see is research that relates to height.   It's crazy!

What about the real world? The average job is a lot less demanding in terms of stature and looks. Employers are DYING to find competent people.  So height matters LESS.  If a person displays great performance characteristics they can do well and rise to the top. As Woody Allen one said – – the competition isn't so great – just showing up is 80% of success. That has nothing to do with height.

While height is helpful to the tune of about $1000 per year per inch in terms of earnings – – performance is far more helpful. If you know your job – – if you're in amazing engineer – – a brilliant leader – A more talented architect – – you can make 10,000 20,000 or 100,000 more dollars per year then taller colleagues. I know that's true because I'm in the top 1% of all income earners – – a self-made man – – and I'm 5 foot seven. I also rose rapidly in the corporate world earlier in my life.  

What's more – – height is becoming less and less of a factor in a more and more virtual work world. A nice aspect of this is that our brains and not our physical stature is what should determine our income and promotions – – and increasingly it does!

So don't let presidential height comparisons get you down. It's an extreme job with insane scrutiny.   It means almost nothing in the real world – – the key is to remain confident – – remind yourself  – – many times the shorter candidate wins – – and in the real world it's very easy to overcome an inch or ten of height with a can do attitude and strong job performance.