There's really a connection between height and success?

身高和成功真的有關(guān)嗎?

It's huge. Tall people make an average of $789 per inch per year (for every inch above a person of average height) and this has been shown repeatedly in a set of four large-scale salary survey studies over 50 years in both the U.K. and the U.S。

關(guān)系很大。高個子的人每高出平均身高1英寸(2.54厘米)每年就多賺789美元。過去50年中這個數(shù)字在對英國和美國所做的四項大型薪酬調(diào)查研究中都反復出現(xiàn)。

Numerous studies show that when bosses are given real and fictitious resumes of two competent　employees, there's about a 70% chance that bosses will pick the taller person for the job. In follow-up studies where the managers were asked to rate the employees coming in to the job, they gave flying color reviews to the tall people, which is hilarious because none of the employees had even done anything yet. The clear implication of this is that tall people are perceived as very competent before they ever display proof that they are。

大量研究表明，當面對兩個稱職的求職者遞來的有真有假的簡歷時，70%的情況下老板都會選擇個子高的那一個。在后續(xù)調(diào)查中，每當經(jīng)理被問及如何評價即將上任的員工，他們總會對高個子流露溢美之詞。這點實在是很滑稽，因為這些員工還什么都沒有做。從這不難看出人們先入為主地認為個子高的人能力也卓爾不群。

Why is that the case?

為何會如此?

One reason tall people are successful is that they are very memorable. We are evolutionarily primed　so that whenever somebody sizable walks in the room, everyone in the room glances, because millions of years ago the biggest person was either going to be a protection or a threat. Being memorable is a major boon if you're doing great work, but it's a double-edged sword: If your work is awful, everyone is going to know it; they won't forget。

個子高的人取得成功的一個原因是他們讓人印象深刻，這點是在人類進化的過程中形成的看法。每當一個大個子進屋時，他會引起每一個人的關(guān)注，因為幾百萬年以前，塊頭最大的人要么是保護者要么是威脅者。給人留下深刻的第一印象是一把雙刃劍：如果你表現(xiàn)出色，那會錦上添花;但如果你表現(xiàn)糟糕，那么也盡人皆知，因為人們都沒有把你忘記。

Tall people are also very good at guarding their personal space, and this pays off in spades in the workplace. When two friends are talking they tend to be 18 inches apart, when two coworkers are talking they tend to be about three feet apart. When a boss and an employee are talking they tend to be at least four feet apart. People always give tall people that full four feet. So when they do studies where they put a video camera in an office floor and track the body language, tall people are related to by everyone in the room with that "boss-space," whereas with short people, coworkers crowd their personal space。

身材高大者善于保護自己的私人空間，這使得他們在職場中容易獲勝。兩個朋友交談時，大概相距0.45米;兩個同事交談時，相距大概0.9米左右;當老板和雇員交談時，至少相距1.2米。和個子高的人交談時，人們往往會保持1.2米左右的距離。根據(jù)放在辦公室地板上的攝像機跟蹤到的肢體語言記錄，在和高個子同事交談時，所有的人都與其保持著相當于和老板保持的距離，然而在和矮個子同事交談時，則侵占了對方大量的個人空間。

So how do you explain shorter CEOs like Jack Welch and Ross Perot?

如何解釋像杰克-韋爾奇和羅斯-佩羅這樣身材相對矮小的CEO?

These are broad statistics, and there are many short people who do succeed. But people of any height who are successful tend to display certain behaviors that correlate with success. Jack Welch's wife actually told me that Jack thinks he's really tall. And there are behaviors that correlate with success. Successful people, whether short or tall, are known and seen. You know when Barry Diller walks into a room, and Jack Welch commands his physical space. So shorter people who are powerful often display many of the same behaviors as tall people。

有大量的數(shù)據(jù)表明許多身材矮小的人也取得了非凡的成就。但凡是那些獲得了成功的人，無論身高幾許，都會表現(xiàn)出和成功相關(guān)的行為特征。杰克-韋爾奇的夫人告訴我，事實上杰克自認為很高大。成功人士無論高矮，其一舉一動都容易引起公眾注意。你知道巴瑞-迪勒什么時候進屋，而杰克-韋爾奇能控制自己的活動空間。換言之，大權(quán)在握的矮個子往往會表現(xiàn)出許多和高個子一樣的行為。

There are also a number of short CEOs who have succeeded by avoiding the corporate ladder and starting their own companies. This is definitely the case for Ross Perot, who is a self-made billionaire. Ron Perelman and Barry Diller also started their own companies instead of trying to move up from inside a company。

還有很多身材低矮的CEO通過自己開公司取得成功，而不是通過在公司內(nèi)部一個階梯一個階梯往上爬。羅斯-佩羅就是一個典型的白手起家的億萬富翁。羅恩-佩雷曼和巴瑞-迪勒也都是這樣打出了自己的天下。

What are the best and worst jobs for tall people?

什么工作最適合高個子，什么最不適合?

Tall people make more money and also tend to cluster　in higher-paying fields. This is because they tend to thrive in fields in which social interactions take place, since they're helped by their body language. So tall traits are going to shine in these kinds of jobs. For example, if I were a litigator, I would be able to use the full power of my tall body to command presence, whereas if I were a clerk sitting behind a desk, I would gain no benefit from being tall. Granted, plenty of tall people flock to other fields -- for example, there are a disproportionate number of tall people in police work, firefighting work, and physical work where being tall would be of value。

高個子的人賺錢更多，也更容易聚集在高薪領域。這是因為得益于他們的身體語言，他們易于在社交互動性強的領域成功，也就是說高大的身材會在這類型的工作中發(fā)揮優(yōu)勢。例如，如果我是一名律師，我就能充分利用我身高的優(yōu)勢來把握我的表現(xiàn)，相反假如我是一個文秘，每天坐在桌子后面，那么我的身高就無用武之地。當然，還有很多高個子的人涌向其他的領域。例如在警察、消防員和其他一些能發(fā)揮身高優(yōu)勢的行業(yè)中，個子高的人占有極大的比例。

What advice do you have for tall people in a job interview?

對高個子在面試工作時有什么建議?

They say that when you're networking, your goal is to be liked. You want to make someone as comfortable as possible. To do this you need to adjust your body language and be hyper-aware of yourself. In my case, this means no hovering. I go out of my way to kill the dumb jock stereotype by being as verbally coherent as possible, and I always sit down as soon as I possibly can. I gain nothing by standing there flexing my physical might。

有人建議說面試的時候要迎合對方的喜好，要盡可能的讓對方感到舒服。要達到這個目標，你需要調(diào)整自己的肢體語言并且高度注意自己的言行。對我而言，我不能拖泥帶水，要當機立斷。我的身材很容易讓人把我當成一個笨拙的運動員，我會盡可能以清晰連貫的口頭表達來消除這種成見，并且一有機會我就坐下，因為我不會從不斷調(diào)整站姿中獲得任何好處。

Isn't it sometimes better to be short than tall?

是否有時候身材矮小比身材高大有優(yōu)勢?

The big challenge for tall people is that they cannot hide. Tall people are always public, and this can be pretty tough. Short people and those of average height can camouflage　and sort of disappear in a crowd when they choose to. It's just a beautiful thing to be able to hide, and really stressful when you're tall and not able to do this。

對于身材高大的人而言，一個很大的挑戰(zhàn)是不能隱藏。高個子的人總在人們注意之中，這其實是一件麻煩事。矮個子以及中等身材的人可以根據(jù)自己的需要在人群中偽裝甚至消失在人們視線之外。能夠隱藏是一件很美妙的事，可惜對于高個子來說，由于無法隱藏自我而總是活在壓力之下。

Have you ever wished you were shorter?

你是否曾經(jīng)希望自己變矮?

Absolutely. In my first job, in consulting, we would sit around in the conference room and I would always be the one called out and asked questions -- especially when I hadn't even had a chance to have my first cup of coffee. Now it's not a matter of wishing I were short, but of wishing that I could make the awkwardness and all of the really god-awful body language just go away!

當然!我的第一份工作是咨詢，那時我們經(jīng)常圍坐在一個會議室里開會。有時候我都來不及喝第一杯咖啡就被點名發(fā)表意見。現(xiàn)在，重要的不是希望自己變矮，而是希望我可以避免做出笨拙和特別糟糕的肢體語言。