Part 15 (2/2)

Look around you Some people you know are more dominant, more forceful, and rumpy and constantly irritable It is one of the axioy that people are all shaped by the same personality diroup they live in, dictated by the immediate culture; and subject to the sa environ of these three levels, each person becomes unique and inimitable

Nevertheless, a certain mix of individual differences seems to equate with life success Theory tells us that extroverted, stable, conscientious, eent and attractive individuals have been dealt the best hand for their future They excel at tasks at hand; find healthy ways of coping with stress at work and life adversaries; build prosperous careers; and lead healthier lifestyles Why, one ht ask, should such unfairness exist? To answer this question we need to jump frolobal evolution Both individuals and groups need to adapt to their environment or face extinction Groups, however, rely on the prowess of their leaders to select the best way forward, to innovate and to inspire collective action Since a larger part of intelligence and personality appears to be heritable, those blessed with the ”best recipe” are not only betterequipped to lead and are selected as leaders more often, but also, in consequence, are continually reproduced in the population

In this book, we atteive an accessible, coe We noted how signs of assertiveness and power are transmitted nonverbally; how status is inferred fronalled through movements of the body Since this is a businessorientated book, we also considered the influence of nonverbal co is, for exaesturing In fact, this statement can easily be tested empirically by anyone: tie your hands behind your back the next tie in a social conversation, and you will find speaking rather hard, if not inals that have evolutionary significance, such as proxi and elevated position They are also better researched, most frequently used, and are applicable across contexts Other signs are much more idiosyncratic, individual or situation-bound, and should be interpreted with care and attention, if at all Cultural interpretations of the estures are, for exa the connotation from praise to insult as you cross a border

While we state explicitly that body language should not be regarded as a philosopher's stone capable of giving access to the secrets of huree with its profound and pervasive influence on our lives We know that emotions can be detected unmistakably from facial expressions We also know that it is possible for us to form accurate impressions of other people's personalities and intentions during extree is the product of physiological changes in the nervous system which are activated by situational and emotional cues, and hence can sometimes be a true reflection of our inner state at that point in tier lies Since some truth about an individual's condition can be sure, it is a natural tendency to generalize and to apply the standards across contexts This in turn leads to popular claims and misconceptions blown out of proportion by various ry for the next headline or sale We hope we have done our part in refuting some of those myths

What sort of conclusion does this book reach? Well, if you take one thing from this book, ould like it to be this: The power of body language lies in its subtlety, in its proe hints towards a certain disposition or behavior rather than identifies or deteriance, attraction and friendshi+p are explicit co Oral declarations of status, doressiveness are likely to be e is understood ly It does not have to be processed consciously to be appreciated or to elicit action That is why body language is so iotiations, for exah and the disclosure of interests is often only partial, the acceptance of the deal relies heavily on the sincerity of the spoken word, or to put it simply, on how trustworthy is the other party Trustworthiness can certainly be signalled verbally (and most job intervieould have attempted to do just that) but has to be e expressed As none of us have the ability to see too far into the future, one has to trust that the option or action selected in the present will effect the desired outcomes over the next few days, months or years Thus, nonverbal communication plays a crucial role in our perception of the other party, by enhancing, or indeed, contradicting the verbal declaration

The other way of looking at this would be to turn the situation around and ask: if body language is not that i ”noise” in the system, why do we still have the ability to use it? One could explain the phenoes this systeht to our ancestors and its similarity to those of other, especially closely related, species In line with this argu information The amount of information we are bombarded with every day is extraordinary Twenty-four-hour news reports, advertising es, and pressure from work and home life add to the complexity of the urban lifestyle of nitive filters processing the information sift most of it away (as they have always done), apart fronificant Nonverbal signals often act as clues to behaviors and intentions that do not need to be processed consciously in order to be understood, and thus reduce the cognitive load from our busy minds and facilitate coe is a systeeous to us, and the absence of it is usually detrimental to individuals' social skills, as evident, for exaer's or Down's disorder sufferers, who have difficulties learning the clues about appropriate behavior for different situations In short, body language helps us quickly to sort out friends froood from bad, and sincere from dishonest words

However, it is also necessary to discuss the ie Nonverbal communication is an incredibly popular topic, with hundreds of books and papers being written about it Yet, once a trait or a behavioral pattern is labelled as being socially desirable, people will inevitably fake ”good” or overinterpret what they see One example of this tendency is the modern obsession with beauty which, exacerbated by the advances of science and e increase in the nu disorders This degree of recognition of the body language topic, in essence, may result in copy-cat behavior by some This, of course, carries the risk of this channel of co abused for dishonest purposes It was Bernard Madoff's excellent reputation in high-class circles that clouded the perception of investors and let hiest Ponzi sche take you? Is it really as easy as it sounds to be? First, it is a question of ability One has to not only kno to fake, but also be a good actor to perform a behavior that is not in one's natural repertoire Think of the case of Frank Abagnale, Jr, on whose life was based the script of a famous movie, Catch Me If You Can In the es to pose successfully as a nuhly qualified professionals With the necessary paperwork in place, he fakes being a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer Of course, this incredible ability to fake is not so everyone possesses, but it shows that it is, indeed, possible Con artists and i and portrayal

Body language faking is, perhaps, more possible for short durations of time, but it is unlikely that one is capable of a sustained change in behavior Most of it happens without awareness, and no degree of self-control would let, for exae across various business contexts Coupled with our implicit, unconscious trust in bodily co (if it looks good, it ood), it opens up the possibility of influence, as deed political debates and the advertising industry One si in business settings: trust but test I, should always be reached through extensive background research, not siood news for business is that nonverbal coues and consumers towards a desirable course of action

Finally, we need to discuss issues of y on huital reality coes, e-mails, voice calls over the Internet and instant chats, and the trend is expected to steadily increase How do these new media affect the communication process if all the usual connotations provided by body language are stripped away? The answer is threefold

First, it does indeed create a challenge forfrom this type of communication is the immediate feedback mechanism that is typical of face-to-face interactions Emotional cues, such as humour, sarcasm or positive affect become harder to read and understand The infores is deprived of the sensory tinge; instead, it relegates the essence of co so, it does not allow the sender and the recipient to instantly clarify or confire

Second, however, people are creative creatures They overco or utilizing different nonverbal signs and signals Emoticons, for exae People also start using such clues as response ti to infer hiddenbehind the communication There is a popular anecdote in business that reco e-nated tie such behavior creates is the i individual coanization As for video conferencing, since the interaction involves visual inforaze patterns, snals contributing to inference of ital media, detached fro information such as physical attractiveness, e to hu the clues unrelated to the e of communication, itsaid, not on how or by who for the Counter (1993) Business Watching (1994) (with Barrie Gunter) The Myths of Managey of Managerial Incoe at Work (1999) The Hopeless, Hapless and Helpless Manager (2000) Children and Advertising (2000) The 3D Manager: Dangerous, Derailed and Deranged (2001) Growing Up with Advertising (2002) Mad, Sad and Bad Manageement and Myths (2004) The People Business (2005) Dishonesty at Work (2005) (with John Taylor) Manageeement (2008) The Elephant in the Boardroom (2010)