Do You Make Less Money Than Your Taller Peers?

A recent study at the University of Florida found that over the span of their careers short people earn less money than their taller counterparts. In terms of cold hard cash, each extra inch in height equals roughly $800 difference in annual pay. So, essentially a person standing at 5 ft 8 inches tall will make about $9600 less annually than someone standing at 6 ft 8 inches tall.

It's surprise that in this post-modern era our incomes are influenced so strongly by our physical statures. The figure of $9600 per year, in the example above, should be a stark enough example of this - but the practice seems even more unsettling when multiplied over a career spanning 30 years. Just by being a foot shorter than your peers, you are likely to earn $288,000 less over 30 years than they do.

You would think that in an 'enlightened era,' such as the one in which we live, that payscale would be based on individual and team results rather than physical height characteristics. Unfortunately the study shows otherwise.

So, what are we to do?

Should we form an affirmative action group to pursue the correction of these practices?

It's too tough to legislate changes into people minds. Plus, there's a ton of other baggage that goes along with it. You'd have to define what 'short' is. You'd have to create a government entity to monitor and enforce penalties against discriminators. Too expensive. Too negative. Too divisive.

My solution focuses on blatantly impressing upon people that shorter people are worth paying more.

Let me illustrate with an example out of the world of real estate.

A nice house sat vacant for many months with no potential buyers showing interest. The homeowner kept dropping the price from time to time over the course of the year and still no potential buyers showed interest. Eventually, the seller took a shockingly different approach and RAISED the asking price several thousand dollars above what the original asking price had been.

The house sold in a matter of days.

Perceived value can play a huge role in economics. And apparently, according to this study, there's a perceived value that the shorter a person is, the less they can be paid.

How do we change that perception?

Let's get thousands of people who consider themselves short in stature and under salaried, and let's raise their pricetag - just like the homeowner raised their asking price.

Teach these individuals how to create wealth rather than have jobs. Show them how to make hundreds of thousands of dollar per month. Then showcase them as power-brokers. An elite group of people with a common characteristic of shorter stature and greater wealth can leave an indelible mark on the psyches of the world's population that shorter people are worth paying more money than taller individuals.

We may believe the words in the Declaration of Independence of the United States that all people are created equal, but we end up seeing that people are treated unequal. Instead of waiting for someone else to change societies impressions of us, that responsibility falls into our own hands.

We may be created equal - but within our power - within our individual realms of influence - we have incredible opportunities to become unequal. We have the power to choose whether we're treated unequal in ways we dislike, or treated unequal in ways we like.

So now that we're working toward being treated unequally in ways we like, we'd better start making plans for using those hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right?

How about bankrolling the next grant for another round of research that will show the next wave of trends in pay as related to height - that shorter people started earning more than their taller counterparts beginning in 2003?

About The Author

C.S. Deam is a small business owner. His eBook Leverage Yourself Out of the Rat Race is available for immediate download at www.LinkertonPublishing.com where you can sign up for FREE E-Courses & Newsletters to help you on your path to self-employment.

More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Coaching Information:

Related Articles

Let's Say You're a Dog. Are You So Competitive You'd Eat a Carrot?
Seems like a gal always learns something out on the farm! Yes, it's a farm tale and I'm going to change the names of the animals to protect the guilty!I spent last weekend down in Lower Alabama where my friend from high school owns a farm. On the neighboring property there lives a donkey we'll call "Jake.
Coaching Book Review: The Coach: Creating Partnerships for a Competitive Edge
Leaders today have many challenges when it comes to guiding and influencing the performance of their team members. In the past, productivity and success depended on sheer muscle and sweat.
Mailey's Introspections [Monday, December 6th 2005]
As I work with clients as their introspective Inner Peace/Relationship coach, an issue that has come to my awareness is the tendency we have as human beings to stray away from the present moment. Some people tend to live mostly in the past, some live in the future, while still others ricochet from future to past and back to the future again.
Skills for Change
The name of the game is CHANGE -- that's true at work, and it's also true in life. In both situations there are FOUR skills you can trust:1.
Coaching Skills and Positive Motivation
There is one important point that is often missed in the discussion of Coaching Skills: Effective coaching is a great deal more than just problem solving. Many people misinterpret coaching as only a corrective process aimed at specific error and deficiencies of an individual.
Surviving the Workday in Your Organization
Most people suffer from stress at some time during the day. When you recognise your own peak and low energy levels, you can work with your body clock to maintain high productivity and alertness.
Floating In Mindfulness: Dealing With Disappointment
Feeling disappointed? It's time to float.The time-honored approach to disappointment generally involves a fair amount of wallowing followed by a concerted effort to move on.
Successful Change Starts With A Shift In Perspective
Like so many in corporate America today, Susan needed more balance in her life-but she did not know how to get it. Faced with a 60-hour work week and a lengthy daily commute, Susan was left with little time for outside interests.
Mind the Gap
The underground train in London can get you anywhere when you know how to maneuver all the options. Like our subways, London under ground is a busy place.
Transform Your Office Into A Powerhouse Of Success
Did you know that the area that you call your 'office' is a direct reflection of you? If your environment is clean and uncluttered it projects that the person who works there is calm and has everything under control. Consequently if it looks like the local rubbish tip then the impression others get is that this person is disorganised, and a complete mess.
Corporate Coaching - Why Coach? C(5)+ED
Is it possible to make a strong "business case for corporate coaching?" Why is coaching vital to organizations? Why should leaders invest time developing their coaching skills? These are tough, important questions that organizations should consider before implementing coaching.The need for corporate coaching certainly depends on the situation.
Aim For Your Star
"Aim for your star, no matter how far, you must reach high above and touch your life with love, you must never look back, but charge on! Attack! See your goal your star of desire, see it red hot, feel it burning, you must be obsessed with it to make it your true yearning, be ready my friends for when you truly believe it, you will certainly achieve it and by all of God's universal laws you will always receive it!"Bob Smith(American editor, author, founder of Orison Swett Marden Foundation)Are you disappointed, discouraged and discontented with your present level of success? Are you secretly dissatisfied with your present situation? Do you want to become a better and more beautiful person than you are today? Do you want weight loss, or an end to food obsession? How about inner peace?Yes, you can have what you want! Of course you can. But accomplishing your goals while at the same time feeling inner peace means doing things differently than you've done them before.
Good Communication is Easy - Isn't It?
My name is Steve Brummet and my business is to speak to businesses, teams, schools, churches, non profit organizations and just people about improving their communication skills. Most communication experts agree that good communication starts with understanding.
COACHING: When it's Beyond Oprah and Dr. Phil
How many more servings of the daytime self-help salad will it take to sooth your appetite? To actually get your life to where you want it to be? To actually start seeing changes for yourself rather than just on the tear-filled faces of Oprah's latest guests?How about the alternatives? If you stick with TV then you will likely wind up in frightening dead ends with the likes of Jerry, Ricky and Montel. So, you read a few more Chicken Soup books, listen to another Anthony Robbins seminar and double up on the appointments with your shrink.
Managing Your Perfectionism
What Is Perfectionism?This is the first of two newsletters that address perfectionism. In this issue, we will explore what perfectionism is and why it is destructive.
Our Worst Enemy
Who do you consider as your worst enemy? The criminals roamingthe dark streets? Your boss who's killing you mentally andemotionally with stress and harsh words? The people in office who are engaging in graft and corruption, instead of helpingthose in need? We have many implications of who our enemies are; but we haveone common foe who is the main cause of our failures andmisfortunes, and we're not even aware of this opponent. You may not want to admit it, but our worst enemy is ourselves.
Addiction to Thinking
Randall sought my help because he was stuck being miserable and had no idea how to get out of his misery. In his life he had experienced moments of great joy and sense of oneness with all of life, but those moments were infrequent.
Top 10 Ways to Coach Yourself to Total Success!
Coaching is about being your best. It's about performance, about "staying the course" and, in the end, about creating and living the life you really want.
Handling Disappointment
Disappointment is an inevitable part of home-based business. Clients won't pay, bids fall through, or business associates don't come through on their promises or act unethically.
10 Things I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Went Into the Real World
I must confess, I laughed when I saw that Maria Shriver has come out with a book called, "Ten Things I Wish I Had Known Before Going Into The Real World." The real world? Come on, she grew up a Kennedy and married the biggest action movie star of all time! That aside, it got me to thinking: What are ten things I wish I would have known before going out into the real world? So, here they are.