Post by kokonutwoman on Jul 18, 2009 11:28:03 GMT 12
Success may be a tall order
By BECK ELEVEN - The Press
Last updated 05:00 18/07/2009
Tall people have more earning power than shorties, Australian research shows.
The co-author of a study published in the Economic Record, Professor Andrew Leigh, said taller people, particularly men, earned about an extra NZ$1100 a year for every five centimetres of height above the average of 1.78 metres.
The Press contacted some of the men and women who appeared in the Press' December Power List to ask if they felt their success had anything to do with stature.
The tallest man spoken to by The Press, Orion chief executive Roger Sutton, at 1.88m, said he did not believe there was any financial advantage to height. However, the company's annual report lists one employee at the top of the pay bracket earning between $670,000 and $680,000.
Mayor Bob Parker said he was about 1.81m, but "a person's height pales into insignificance compared to personality".
VBase chief executive Bryan Pearson, at 1.85m, said his success was "directly attributable" to his wife, whose height he did not reveal.
Diana, Lady Isaac, said she "used to be 1.73m" but had lost height, "as one does when one gets older".
"I used to be quite tall for a woman," she said. "But I didn't really need height. I have a reputation which carried me quite well."
Christchurch organisational psychologist Jonathan Black, 1.75m, said high finance was not a product of height, but height had psychological side-effects.
"Height is linked to self-esteem and emergence of leadership. We look for people who stand out in some way," he said.
"It may be their demeanour, intelligence or height. These people create attention, which begins in adolescence, the formative years.
"It leads to self-confidence and, let's face it, the No1 factor in making money is self-confidence."
Disproving the tall-rich theory, Mad Butcher Peter Leitch put his success down to hard work, not his 1.65m frame.
"I built the business from nothing and I don't know my alphabet or times table," he said. "I think it's the effort you put in."
By BECK ELEVEN - The Press
Last updated 05:00 18/07/2009
Tall people have more earning power than shorties, Australian research shows.
The co-author of a study published in the Economic Record, Professor Andrew Leigh, said taller people, particularly men, earned about an extra NZ$1100 a year for every five centimetres of height above the average of 1.78 metres.
The Press contacted some of the men and women who appeared in the Press' December Power List to ask if they felt their success had anything to do with stature.
The tallest man spoken to by The Press, Orion chief executive Roger Sutton, at 1.88m, said he did not believe there was any financial advantage to height. However, the company's annual report lists one employee at the top of the pay bracket earning between $670,000 and $680,000.
Mayor Bob Parker said he was about 1.81m, but "a person's height pales into insignificance compared to personality".
VBase chief executive Bryan Pearson, at 1.85m, said his success was "directly attributable" to his wife, whose height he did not reveal.
Diana, Lady Isaac, said she "used to be 1.73m" but had lost height, "as one does when one gets older".
"I used to be quite tall for a woman," she said. "But I didn't really need height. I have a reputation which carried me quite well."
Christchurch organisational psychologist Jonathan Black, 1.75m, said high finance was not a product of height, but height had psychological side-effects.
"Height is linked to self-esteem and emergence of leadership. We look for people who stand out in some way," he said.
"It may be their demeanour, intelligence or height. These people create attention, which begins in adolescence, the formative years.
"It leads to self-confidence and, let's face it, the No1 factor in making money is self-confidence."
Disproving the tall-rich theory, Mad Butcher Peter Leitch put his success down to hard work, not his 1.65m frame.
"I built the business from nothing and I don't know my alphabet or times table," he said. "I think it's the effort you put in."
