It’s not his size, but what he was capable of.
And those people want you to believe it. What they are capable of. What shuts those people down absolutely cold is when they realize what you are capable of. It is what you communicate to them by your presence. It is called by many names but it is an aspect of life force. The will to survive, to do whatever it takes, the ability to provide unremitting hell should the been arise. It either lives within you or it doesn’t.