the one theory i read about on the correlation between height and managerial position is that, people's confidence correlate highly with height when they were teenagers (I am assuming that people's height when they are teenagers also highly correlate with their final, adult height), and in a corporate environment, marginally more confident goes a long way -- way more than marginally better at programming or building spreadsheet.

And as someone who is in a bit of a managerial position myself, and having watched many others try to manage to various degree of success, I'd say this translation between confidence to managerial responsibility is a feature not a bug. You really do want to put a confident person in charge if only that others are more inclined to follow her. An adequate plan resolutely executed is much better than a somewhat better plan timidly presented.

check out this old HN thread on "rich kids already won the career game" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2296550