How to Intrigue Everyone Without Saying a Word
You Only Have Ten Seconds to Show Youre a Somebody
The exact moment that two humans lay eyes on each other has awesome potency. The first sight of you is a brilliant holograph. It burns its way into your new acquaintances eyes and can stay emblazoned in his or her memory forever.
Artists are sometimes able to capture this quicksilver, fleeting emotional response. My friend Robert Grossman is an accoplished caricature artist who draws regularly for Forbes, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, and other popular publications. Bob has a unique gift for capturing not only the physical appeaance of his subjects, but for zeroing in on the essence of their pesonalities. The bodies and souls of hundreds of luminaries radiate from his sketch pad. One glance at his caricatures of famous pe ple and you can actually see their personalities.
Sometimes at a party, Bob will do a quick sketch on a coctail napkin of a guest. Hovering over Bobs shoulder, the onlooers gasp as they watch their friends image and essence materialize before their eyes. When hes finished drawing, he puts his pen down and hands the napkin to the subject. Often a puzzled look comes over the subjects face. He or she usually mumbles some politeness like, Well, er, thats great. But it really isnt me.
The crowds convincing crescendo of Oh yes it is! drowns the subject out and squelches any lingering doubt. The confused subject is left to stare back at the worlds view of himself or heself in the napkin.
Once when I was visiting Bobs studio, I asked him how he could capture peoples personalities so well. He said, Its simple. I just look at them.
No, I asked, How do you capture their personalities? Dont you have to do a lot of research about their lifestyle, their history?
No, I told you, Leil, I just look at them. Huh? He went on to explain, Almost every facet of peoples personalities is evident from their appearance, their posture, the way they move. For instance . . . he said, calling me over to a file where he kept his caricatures of political figures.
See, Bob said, pointing to angles on various presidential body parts, heres the boyishness of Clinton, showing me his half smile; the awkwardness of the elder George Bush, pointing to his shouder angle; the charm of Reagan, noting the ex-presidents smiling eyes; the shiftiness of Nixon, pointing to the furtive tilt of his head. Digging a little deeper into his file, he pulled out Franklin Delano Roosevelt and, pointing to the nose high in the air, Heres the pride of FDR. Its all in the face and the body.
First impressions are indelible. Why? Because in our faspaced, information-overload world of multiple stimuli bombaring us every second, peoples heads are spinning. They must form
quick judgments to make sense of the world and get on with what they have to do. So, whenever people meet you, they take an instant mental snapshot. That image of you becomes the data they deal with for a very long time.
Your Body Shrieks Before Your Lips Can Speak
Are their data accurate? Amazingly enough, yes. Even before your lips part and the first syllable escapes, the essence of YOU has already axed its way into their brains. The way you look and the way you move is more than 80 percent of someones first impresion of you. Not one word need be spoken.
Ive lived and worked in countries where I didnt speak the native language. Yet, without one understandable syllable spoken between us, the years proved my first impressions were on target. Whenever I met new colleagues, I could tell instantly how friendly they felt toward me, how confident they were, and approximately how much stature they had in the company. I could sense, just from seeing them move, who the heavyweights were and who were the welterweights.
I have no extrasensory skill. Youd know, too. How? Because before you have had time to process a rational thought, you get a sixth sense about someone. Studies have shown emotional reations occur even before the brain has had time to register whats causing that reaction.Thus the moment someone looks at you, he or she experiences a massive hit, the impact of which lays the groundwork for the entire relationship. Bob told me he captures that first hit in creating his caricatures.
Deciding to pursue my own agenda for How to Talk to Anone, I asked, Bob, if you wanted to portray somebody really coolyou
know, intelligent, strong, charismatic, principled, facinating, caring, interested in other people. . . .
Easy, Bob interrupted. He knew precisely what I was geting at. Just give em great posture, a heads-up look, a confident smile, and a direct gaze. Its the ideal image for somebody whos a Somebody.
How to Look Like a Somebody
My friend Karen is a highly respected professional in the homfurnishings business. Her husband is an equally big name in the communications field. They have two small sons.
Whenever Karen is at a home-furnishings industry event, everyone pays deference to her. Shes a very important person in that world. Her colleagues at conventions jostle for position just to be seen casually chatting with her and, they hope, be phtographed rubbing elbows with her for industry bibles like Home Furnishings Executive and Furniture World.
Yet, Karen complains, when she accompanies her husband to communications functions, she might as well be a nobody. When she takes her kids to school functions, shes just another mom. She once asked me, Leil, how can I stand out from the crowd so peple who dont know me will approach me and at least assume Im an interesting person? The techniques in this section accomplish precisely that. When you use the next nine techniques, you will come across as a special person to everyone you meet. You will stand out as a Somebody in whatever crowd you find yourself in, even if its not your crowd.
Lets start with your smile.
How to Make Your Smile Magically Different
In 1936, one of Dale Carnegies six musts in How to Win Friends and Influence People was SMILE! His edict has been echoed each decade by practically every communications guru who ever put pen to paper or mouth to microphone. However, at the turn of the millennium, its high time we reexamine the role of the smile in high-level human relations. When you dig deeper into Dales dictum, youll find a 1936 quick smile doesnt always work. Espcially nowadays.
The old-fashioned instant grin carries no weight with todays sophisticated crowd. Look at world leaders, negotiators, and coporate giants. Not a smiling sycophant among them. Key players in all walks of life enrich their smile so, when it does erupt, it has more potency and the world smiles with them.
Researchers have catalogued dozens of different types of smiles. They range from the tight rubber band of a trapped liar to the soft squishy smile of a tickled infant. Some smiles are warm while others are cold. There are real smiles and fake smiles. (Youve seen plenty of those plastered on the faces of friends who say theyre delighted you decided to drop by, and presidential candidates viiting your city who say theyre thrilled to be in, uh . . . uh. )
Big winners know their smile is one of their most powerful weapons, so theyve fine-tuned it for maximum impact.
How to Fine-Tune Your Smile
Just last year, my old college friend Missy took over her family business, a Midwestern company supplying corrugated boxes to manufacturers. One day she called saying she was coming to New York to court new clients and she invited me to dinner with seeral of her prospects. I was looking forward to once again seeing my friends quicksilver smile and hearing her contagious laugh. Missy was an incurable giggler, and that was part of her charm.
When her Dad passed away last year, she told me she was taing over the business. I thought Missys personality was a little bubbly to be a CEO in a tough business. But, hey, what do I know about the corrugated box biz?
She, three of her potential clients, and I met in the cocktail lounge of a midtown restaurant and, as we led them into the diing room, Missy whispered in my ear, Please call me Melissa tonight.
Of course, I winked back, not many company presidents are called Missy! Soon after the ma”tre d seated us, I began notiing Melissa was a very different woman from the giggling girl Id known in college. She was just as charming; she smiled as much as ever. Yet something was different. I couldnt quite put my figer on it. Although she was still effervescent, I had the distinct impresion everything Melissa said was more insightful and sincere. She was responding with genuine warmth to her prospective clients, and I could tell they liked her, too. I was thrilled because my friend was scoring a knockout that night. By the end of the evning, Melissa had
three big new clients.
How to Make Your Smile Magically Dif ferent 7
Afterward, alone with her in the cab, I said, Missy, youve really come a long way since you took over the company. Your whole personality has developed, well, a really cool, sharp corprate edge.
Uh uh, only one thing has changed, she said. Whats that? My smile, she said. Your what? I asked incredulously.
My smile, she repeated as though I hadnt heard her. You see, she said, with a distant look coming into her eyes, when Dad got sick and knew in a few years Id have to take over the business, he sat me down and had a life-changing conversation with me. Ill never forget his words. Dad said, Missy, Honey, remember that old song, I Loves Ya, Honey, But Yer Feets Too Big? Well, if youre going to make it big in the box business, let me say, I loves ya, Honey, but your smiles too quick.
He then brought out a yellowed newspaper article quoting a study hed been saving to show me when the time was right. It cocerned women in business. The study showed women who were slower to smile in corporate life were perceived as more credible.
As Missy talked, I began to think about history-making women like Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Madeleine Albright, and other powerful women of their ilk. Not one was known for her quick smile.
Missy continued, The study went on to say a big, warm smile is an asset. But only when it comes a little slower, because then it has more credibility. From that moment on, Missy explained, she gave clients and business associates her big smile. However, she trained her lips to erupt more slowly. Thus her smile appeared more sincere and personalized for the recipient.
That was it! Missys slower smile gave her personality a richer, deeper, more sincere cachet. Though the delay was less than a second, the recipients of her beautiful big smile felt it was special and just for them.
I decided to do more research on the smile. When youre in the market for shoes, you begin to look at everyones feet. When you decide to change your hairstyle, you look at everyones haicut. Well, for several months, I became a steady smile watcher. I watched smiles on the street. I watched smiles on TV. I watched the smiles of politicians, the clergy, corporate giants, and world leaders. My findings? Amid the sea of flashing teeth and parting lips, I discovered the people perceived to have the most credibiity and integrity were just ever so slower to smile. Then, when they did, their smiles seemed to seep into every crevice of their faces and envelop them like a slow flood. Thus I call the following tecnique The Flooding Smile.
Let us now travel but a few inches north to two of the most powerful communications tools you possess, your eyes.
Technique #1
The Flooding Smile
Dont flash an immediate smile when you greet someone, as though anyone who walked into your line of sight would be the beneficiary. Instead, look at the other persons face for a second. Pause. Soak in their persona. Then let a big, warm, responsive smile flood over your face and overflow into your eyes. It will engulf the recipient like a warm wave. The split-second delay convinces people your flooding smile is genuine and only for them.
How to Strike Everyone as Intelligent and Insightful by Using Your Eyes
Its only a slight exaggeration to say Helen of Troy could launch ships with her eyes and Davy Crockett could stare down a bear. Your eyes are personal grenades that have the power to detonate peoples emotions. Just as martial arts masters register their fists as lethal weapons, you can register your eyes as psychological lethal weapons when you master the following eye-contact techniques.
Beloved people in the game of life look beyond the convetional wisdom that teaches Keep good eye contact. For one, they understand that to certain suspicious or insecure people, intense eye contact can be a virulent intrusion.
When I was growing up, my family had a Haitian houskeeper whose fantasies were filled with witches, warlocks, and black magic. Zola refused to be left alone in a room with Louie, my Siamese cat. Louie looks right through mesees my soul, shed whisper to me fearfully.
In some cultures, intense eye contact is sorcery. In others, staing at someone can be threatening or disrespectful. Realizing this, big players in the international scene prefer to pack a book on cutural body-language differences in their carry-on rather than a Berlitz phrase book. In our culture, however, big winners know exaggerated eye contact can be extremely advantageous, especially
between the sexes. In business, even when romance is not in the picture, strong eye contact packs a powerful wallop between men and women.
A Boston center conducted a study to learn the precise effect.The researchers asked opposite-sex individuals to have a twminute casual conversation. They tricked half their subjects into
maintaining intense eye contact by directing them to count the number of times their partner blinked. They gave the other half of the subjects no special eye-contact directions for the chat.
When they questioned the subjects afterward, the unsuspecing blinkers reported significantly higher feelings of respect and fondness for their colleagues who, unbeknownst to them, had siply been counting their blinks.
Ive experienced the closeness intense eye contact engenders with a stranger firsthand. Once, when giving a seminar to several hundred people, one womans face in the crowd caught my attetion. The participants appearance was not particularly unique. Yet she became the focus of my attention throughout my talk. Why? Because not for one moment did she take her eyes off my face. Even when I finished making a point and was silent, her eyes stayed hungrily on my face. I sensed she couldnt wait to savor the next insight to spout from my lips. I loved it! Her concentration and obvious fascination inspired me to remember stories and make important points Id long forgotten.
Right after my talk, I resolved to seek out this new friend who was so enthralled by my speech. As people were leaving the hall, I quickly sidled up behind my big fan. Excuse me, I said. My fan kept walking. Excuse me, I repeated a tad louder. My admirer didnt vary her pace as she continued out the door. I folowed her into the corridor and tapped her shoulder gently. This time she whirled around with a surprised look on her face. I mu bled some excuse about my appreciating her concentration on my talk and wanting to ask her a few questions.
How to Strike Everyone as Intelligent and Insightful by Using Your Eyes 11
Did you, uh, get much out of the seminar? I ventured.
Well, not really, she answered candidly. I had difficulty understanding what you were saying because you were walking around on the platform facing different directions.
In a heartbeat, I understood. The woman was hearing impaired. I did not captivate her as I had suspected. She was not intrigued by my talk as I had hoped. The only reason she kept her eyes glued on my face was because she was struggling to read my lips!
Nevertheless, her eye contact had given me such pleasure and inspiration during my talk that, tired as I was, I asked her to join me
for coffee. I spent the next hour recapping my entire seminar just for her. Powerful stuff this eye contact.
Make Your Eyes Look Even More Intelligent
There is yet another argument for intense eye contact. In addition to awakening feelings of respect and affection, maintaining strong eye contact gives you the impression of being an intelligent and abstract thinker. Because abstract thinkers integrate incoming data more easily than concrete thinkers, they can continue looking into someones eyes even during the silences. Their thought processes are not distracted by peering into their partners peepers.Back to our valiant psychologists. Yale researchers, thinking they had the unswerving truth about eye contact, conducted another study that, they assumed, would confirm the more eye contact, the more positive feelings. This time, they directed sujects to deliver a personally revealing monologue. They asked the listeners to react with a sliding scale of eye contact while their parners talked.
The results? All went as expected when women told their pesonal stories to women. Increased eye contact encouraged feelings
of intimacy. But, whoops, it wasnt so with the men. Some men felt hostile when stared at too long by another man. Other men felt threatened. Some few even suspected their partner was more interested than he should be and wanted to slug him.
Your partners emotional reaction to your profound gaze has a biological base. When you look intently at someone, it increases their heartbeat and shoots an adrenalinelike substance gushing through their veins.This is the same physical reaction people have when they start to fall in love. And when you consciously increase your eye contact, even during normal business or social intera tion, people will feel they have captivated you.
Men talking to women and women talking to men or women: use the following technique, which I call Sticky Eyes, for the joy of the recipientand for your own advantage. (Guys, Ill have a man-to- man modification of this technique for you in a moment.)
What About Guys Eyes?
Now gentlemen: when talking to men, you, too, can use Sticky Eyes. Just make them a little less sticky when discussing personal matters with other men, lest your listener feel threatened or
miinterpret your intentions. But do increase your eye contact slightly
Technique #2 Sticky Eyes
Pretend your eyes are glued to your conversation partners with sticky warm taffy. Dont break eye contact even after he or she has finished speaking. When you must look away, do it ever so slowly, reluctantly, stretching the gooey taffy until the tiny string finally breaks.
How to Strike Everyone as Intelligent and Insightful by Using Your Eyes 13
more than normal with men on day-to-day communications and a lot more when talking to women. It broadcasts a visceral message of comprehension and respect.
I have a friend, Sammy, a salesman who unwittingly comes across as an arrogant chap. He doesnt mean to, but sometimes his brusque manner makes it look like hes running roughshod over peoples feelings.
Once while we were having dinner together in a restaurant, I told him about the Sticky Eyes technique. I guess he took it to heart. When the waiter came over, Sammy, uncharacteristically, instead of bluntly blurting out his order with his nose in the menu, looked at the waiter. He smiled, gave his order for the appetizer, and kept his eyes on the waiters for an extra second before looing down again at the menu to choose the main dish. I cant tell you how different Sammy seemed to me just then! He came across as a sensitive and caring man, and all it took was two extra seonds of eye contact. I saw the effect it had on the waiter, too. We received exceptionally gracious service the rest of the evening.
A week later Sammy called me and said, Leil, Sticky Eyes has changed my life. Ive been following it to a T. With women, I make my eyes real sticky and with men slightly sticky. And now everybodys treating me with such deference. I think its part of the reason Ive made more sales this week than all last month!
If you deal with customers or clients in your professional life, Sticky Eyes is a definite boon to your bottom line. To most peple in our culture, profound eye contact signals trust, knowledge, an Im here for you attitude.
Lets carry Sticky Eyes one step further. Like a potent medcine that has the power to kill or cure, the next eye-contact tecnique has
the potential to captivate or annihilate.
How to Use Your Eyes to Make Someone Fall in Love with You Now we haul in the heavy eyeball artillery: very sticky eyes or superglue eyes. Lets call them Epoxy Eyes. Big bosses use Epoxy Eyes to evaluate employees. Police investigators use Epoxy Eyes to intimidate suspected criminals. And clever Romeos use Epoxy Eyes to make women fall in love with them. (If romance is your goal,
Epoxy Eyes is a proven aphrodisiac.)
The Epoxy Eyes technique takes at least three people to pull offyou, your target, and one other person. Heres how it works. Usually, when youre chatting with two or more people, you gaze at the person who is speaking. However, the Epoxy Eyes technique suggests you concentrate on the listeneryour targetrather than the speaker. This slightly disorients the target and he or she silently asks, Why is this person looking at me instead of the speaker? Your target senses you are extremely interested in his or her reations. This can be beneficial in certain business situations when it is appropriate that you judge the listener.
Human resources professionals often use Epoxy Eyes, not as a technique, but because they are sincerely interested in a prspective employees reaction to certain ideas being presented. Attorneys, bosses, police investigators, psychologists, and others
How to Use Your Eyes to Make Someone Fall in Love with You
15
who must examine subjects reactions also use Epoxy Eyes for
anlytical purposes.
When you use Epoxy Eyes, it sends out signals of interest blended with complete confidence in yourself. But because Epoxy Eyes puts you in a position of evaluating or judging someone else, you must be careful. Dont overdo it or you could come across as arrogant and brazen.
Sometimes using full Epoxy Eyes is too potent, so here is a gentler, yet effective, form. Watch the speaker but let your glance bounce to your target each time the speaker finishes a point. This way Mr. or Ms. Target still feels you are intrigued by his or her reactions, yet there is relief from the intensity.
Use Epoxy Eyes to Push Their Erotic Button
If romance is on the horizon, Epoxy Eyes transmits yet another message. It says, I cant take my eyes off you or I only have eyes for you. Anthropologists have dubbed eyes the initial organ of romance
because studies show intense eye contact plays havoc with our heartbeat.It also releases a druglike substance into our
Technique #3 Epoxy Eyes
This brazen technique packs a powerful punch. Watch your target person even when someone else is talking. No matter who is speaking, keep looking at the man or woman you want to impact.
nervous system called phenylethylamine. Since this is the hormone detected in the human body during erotic excitement, intense eye contact can be a turn-on.
Men, Epoxy Eyes is extremely effective on womenif they find you attractive. The lady interprets her nervous reaction to your untoward gaze as budding infatuation. If she does not like you, however, your Epoxy Eyes is downright obnoxious. (Never use Epoxy Eyes on strangers in public settings or you could get arrested!)
How to Look Like a Big Winner Wherever YouGo
Do you remember the lyrics to the old Shirley Bassey song? The minute you walked in the joint, I could see you were a man of ditinctiona real big spender. Good looking, so refined. Say wouldnt you like to know whats going on in my mind?
The goal of this first section is not to make you look like a real big spender. Rather it is to give you the cachet of a real big Somebody the moment people lay eyes on you. To that end, we now explore the most important technique to make you look like a very important person.
When the doctor smacks your knee with that nasty little hamer, your foot jerks forward. Thus the phrase knee-jerk reaction. Your body has another instinctive reaction. When a big jolt of hapiness hits your heart and you feel like a winner, your head jerks up automatically and you throw your shoulders back. A smile frames your lips and softens your eyes.
This is the look winners have constantly. They stand with assurance. They move with confidence. They smile softly with pride. No doubt about itgood posture symbolizes that you are a man or woman who is used to being on top.
Obviously millions of mothers sticking their knuckles btween their kids shoulder blades, and trillions of teachers telling students, Stand up straight! hasnt done the trick. We are a nation of slouchers.
We need a technique more stern than teacers and more persuasive than parents to make us stand like a Somebody.
In one profession, perfect posture, perfect equilibrium, pefect balance is not only desirableits a matter of life and death. One false move, one slump of the shoulders, one hangdog look, can mean curtains for the high-wire acrobat.
Ill never forget the first time Mama took me to the circus. When seven men and women raced into the center ring, the crowd rose as though they were all joined at the hips. They cheered with one thunderous voice. Mama pressed her lips against my ear and reverently whispered these were the Great Walledas, the only troupe in the world to perform the seven-person pyramid without a net.
In an instant, the crowd became hushed. Not a cough or a soda slurp was heard in the big top as Karl and Herman Wallenda shouted cues in German to their trusting relatives. The family meticulously and majestically ascended into the position of a human pyramid. They then balanced precariously on a thin wire hundreds of feet above the hard dirt with no net between them and sudden death. The vision was unforgettable.
To me, equally unforgettable was the beauty and grace of the seven Wallendas racing into the center of the big top to take their bows. Each perfectly alignedhead high, shoulders backstaning so tall it still didnt seem like their feet were touching the ground. Every muscle in their bodies defined pride, success, and their joy of being alive. (Still!) Here is a visualization technique to get your body looking like a winner who is in the habit of feeling that pride, success, and joy of being alive.
How to Look Like a Big Winner Wherever You Go 19 Your Posture Is Your Biggest Success Barometer
Imagine you are a world-renowned acrobat, master of the iron- jaw act waiting in the wings of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baley Circus. Soon you will dart into the center ring to captivate the crowd with the precision and balance of your body.
Before walking through any doorthe door to your office, a party, a meeting, even your kitchenpicture a leather bit haning by a cable from the frame. It is swinging just an inch higher than your head. As you pass through the door, throw your head back and chomp on the imaginary dental grip that first pulls your cheeks back into a smile and then lifts you up. As you ascend high above the gasping crowd, your body is stretched into perfect aligmenthead high,
shoulders back, torso out of hips, feet weighless. At the zenith of the tent, you spin like a graceful top to the amazement and admiration of the crowd craning their necks to watch you. Now you look like a Somebody.
One day, to test Hang by Your Teeth, I decided to count how many times I walked through a doorway: sixty times, even at home. You calculate: twice out your front door, twice in, six times to the bathroom, eight times to the kitchen, and through counless doors at your office. It adds up. Visualize anything sixty times a day and it becomes a habit! Habitual good posture is the first mark of a big winner.
You are now ready to float into the room to captivate the crowd or close the sale (or maybe just settle for looking like the most important Somebody in the room).
You now have all the basics Bob the artist needs to portray you as a big winner. Like he said, great posture, a heads-up look, a confident smile, and a direct gaze. The ideal image for sombody whos a Somebody.
Technique #4
Hang by Your Teeth
Visualize a circus iron-jaw bit hanging from the frame of every door you walk through. Take a bite and, with it firmly between your teeth, let it swoop you to the peak of the big top. When you hang by your teeth, every muscle is stretched into perfect posture position.
Now lets put the whole act into motion. Its time to turn your attention outward to your conversation partner. Use the next two techniques to make him or her feel like a million.
How to Win Their Heart by Responding to Their Inner Infant Remember the old joke? The comic comes onstage and the first
words out of his mouth are, Well, how do you like me so far? The audience always cracks up. Why? Because we all silently ask that question. Whenever we meet someone, we know, consciously or subconsciously, how theyre reacting to us.
Do they look at us? Do they smile? Do they lean toward us? Do they somehow recognize how wonderful and special we are? We like those people. They have good taste. Or do they turn away, obviously unimpressed by our magnificence. The cretins!
Two people getting to know each other are like little puppies sniffing each other out. We dont have tails that wag or hair that bristles. But we do have eyes that narrow or widen. And hands that
flash knuckles or subconsciously soften in the palms-up I submit position. We have dozens of other involuntary reactions that take place in the first few moments of togetherness.
Attorneys conducting voir dire are exquisitely aware of this. They pay close attention to your instinctive body reactions. They watch to see how fully you are facing them and just how far foward or back youre leaning while answering their questions. They check out your hands. Are they softly open, palms up, signifying acceptance of the ideas theyre expressing? Or are you making a slight fist, knuckles out, signaling rejection? They scrutinize your
face for the split seconds you break eye contact when discussing relevant subjects like your feelings on big awards for damages or the death penalty. Sometimes attorneys bring along a legal assitant whose sole job is to sit on the sidelines and take precise note of your every fidget.
An interesting aside: trial lawyers often choose women to do this twitch-and-turn spying job because, traditionally, females are sharper observers of subtle body cues than males. Women, more sensitive to emotions than men, often ask their husbands, Is something bothering you, Honey? (These supersensitive women accuse their husbands of being so insensitive to emotions that they wouldnt notice anything is wrong until their neckties are drenched in her tears.)
The attorney and the assistant then review your score on the dozens of subconscious signals you flashed. Depending on their tally, you could find yourself on jury duty or twiddling your thumbs back in the jurors waiting room.
Trial lawyers are so conscious of body language that, in the 1960s during the famous trial of the Chicago Seven, defense attoney William Kuntsler actually made a legal objection to Judge Julius Hoffmans posture. During the summation by the prosection, Judge Hoffman leaned forward, which, accused Kuntsler, sent a message to the jury of attention and interest. During his defense summation, complained Kuntsler, Judge Hoffman leaned back, sending the jury a subliminal message of disinterest.
Youre on Trialand You Only Have Ten Seconds
Like attorneys deciding whether they want you on their case, everybody you meet makes a subconscious judgment on whether they want you in their lives. They base their verdict greatly on the
same signals, your body-language answer to their unspoken quetion, Well, how do you like me so far?
How to Win Their Heart by Responding to Their Inner Infant 23 The first few moments of your reactions set the stage upon which the entire relationship will be played out. If you ever want anything from the new acquaintance, your unspoken answer to their unspoken question, How do you like me so far? must be, Wow! I
really like you.
When a little four year old feels bashful, he slumps, puts his arms up in front of his chest, steps back, and hides behind Mommys skirt. However, when little Johnny sees Daddy come home, he runs up to him, he smiles, his eyes get wide, and he opens his arms for a hug. A loving childs body is like a tiny flower bud unfolding to the sunshine.
Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of life on earth make little diference. When forty-year-old Johnny is feeling timid, he slumps and folds his arms in front of his chest. When he wants to reject a salesman or business colleague, he turns away and closes him off with a myriad of body signals. However, when welcoming his loved one home after an absence, big Johnny opens his body to her like a giant daffodil spreading its petals to the sun after a rainstorm.
Treat People Like Big Babies
Once I was at a corporate star-studded party with an attractive, recently divorced friend of mine. Carla had been a copywriter with one of the leading advertising agencies which, like so many companies then, had downsized. My girlfriend was both out of work and out of a relationship.
At this particular party, the pickings for Carla were good, both personally and professionally. Several times as Carla and I stood talking, one good-looking corporate male beast or another would find himself within a few feet of us. More often than not, one of these desirable males would flash his teeth at Carla. She sometimes graced the tentatively courting male with a quick smile over her shoulder. But then shed turn back to our mundane conversation
as though she were hanging on my every word. I knew she was trying not to look anxious, but inside Carla was crying out, Why doesnt he come speak to us?
Right after one prize corporate Big Cat smiled but, because of Carlas minimal reaction, wandered back into the social jungle, I had to say, Carla, do you know who that was? Hes the head of the
Young & Rubicam in Paris. Theyre looking for copywriters willing to relocate. And hes single! Carla moaned.
Just then we heard a little voice down by Carlas left knee. Hello! We looked down simultaneously. Little five-year-old Willie, the hostesss adorable young son, was tugging on Carlas skirt, obviously craving attention.
Well, well, well, Carla cried out, a big smile erupting all over her face. Carla turned toward him. Carla kneeled down, touched little Willies elbow, and crooned, Well, hello there, Willie. How are you enjoying Mommys nice party?
Little Willie beamed.
When little Willie finally trundled off to tug on the garments of the next group of potential attention givers, Carla and I returned to our grown-up conversing. During our chat, corporate beasts continued to stalk Carla with their eyes and she continued casting half smiles at them. She was obviously disappointed none of them was making a further approach. I had to bite my tongue. Finally, when I felt it was going to bleed from the pressure of my teeth, I said, Carla, have you been noticing that four or five men have come over and smiled at you.
Yes, Carla whispered, her eyes darting nervously around the room lest anyone overhear us.
And youve been giving them little half smiles, I continued. Yes, she murmured, now confused at my question. Remember when little Willie came up and tugged on your
skirt? Do you recall how you smiled that beautiful big smile of yours, turned toward him, and welcomed him into our grown-up conversation?
How to Win Their Heart by Responding to Their Inner Infant 25 Yee-es, she answered haltingly.
Well, I have a request, Carla. I want you to give the next man who smiles at you that same big smile you gave Willie. I want you to turn toward him just like you did then. Maybe even reach out and touch his arm like you did Willies, and then welcome him into our conversation.
Oh Leil, I couldnt do that.
Carla, do it! Sure enough, within a few minutes, another attractive man wandered our way and smiled. Carla played her role to perfection. She flashed her beautiful teeth, turned fully toward
him, and said, Hello, come join us. He wasted no time acceping Carlas invitation.
After a few moments, I excused myself. Neither noticed my departure because they were in animated conversation. The last glimpse I had of my friend at the party was her floating out the door on the arm of her new friend.
Just then the technique I call The Big-Baby Pivot was born. It is a skill that will help you win whatever your heart desires from whatever type of beasts you encounter in the social or corporate jungle.
Technique #5
The Big-Baby Pivot
Give everyone you meet The Big-Baby Pivot. The instant the two of you are introduced, reward your new acquaintance. Give the warm smile, the total-body turn, and the undivided attention you would give a tiny tyke who crawled up to your feet, turned a precious face up to yours, and beamed a big toothless grin. Pivoting 100 percent toward the new person shouts I think you are very, very special.
Remember, buried deep inside everyone is a big baby who is rattling the crib, wailing out for recognition of how very special he or she is.
The following technique reinforces the big babys suspicion that he or she is, indeed, the center of the universe.
How to Make Someone Feel Like an Old Friend at Once
A very wise man with the funny name of Zigonce told me, Peple dont care how much you know until they know how much you care . . . about them. Zig Ziglar is right. The secret to maing people like you is showing how much you like them!
Your body is a twenty-four-hour broadcasting station reveaing to anyone within eyeshot precisely how you feel at any given moment. Even if your Hang by Your Teeth posture is gaining their respect, your Flooding Smile and The Big-Baby Pivot are making them feel special, and your Sticky Eyes are capturing their hearts and minds, the rest of your body can reveal any incongruence. Every inchfrom the crinkle of your forehead to the position of your feetmust give a command performance if you want to effectively present an I care about you attitude.
Unfortunately, when meeting someone, our brains are in ovedrive. Remember Shakespeares Julius Caesar? He said of
Cassius, he has a lean and hungry look . . . he thinks too much . . . such men are dangerous. So it is with our brains when conversing with a new acquaintance. Our brains become lean. (Some of us are fighting off shyness. Others are frantically sizing up the situation.) And hungry. (Were deciding what, if anything, we want from this potential relationship.) So we think too much instead of responding with candid, unself-conscious friendliness. Such actions are dangerous to impending friendship, love, or commerce.
When our bodies are shooting off ten thousand bullets of stimuli every second, a few shots are apt to misfire and reveal shness or hidden hostility. We need a technique to ensure every shot aims right at the heart of our subject. We need to trick our boies into reacting perfectly.
To find it, lets explore the only time we dont need to worry about any shyness or negativity slipping out through our body laguage. Its when we feel none. That happens when were chatting with close friends. When we see someone we love or feel copletely comfortable with, we respond warmly from head to toe without a thought. Our lips part happily. We step closer. Our arms reach out. Our eyes become soft and wide. Even our palms turn up and our bodies turn fully toward our dear friend.
How to Trick Your Body into Doing Everything Right
Heres a visualization technique that accomplishes all that. It guaantees that everyone you encounter will feel your warmth. I call it Hello Old Friend.
When meeting someone, play a mental trick on yourself. In your minds eye, see him or her as an old friend, someone you had a wonderful relationship with years ago. But somehow you lost track of your friend. You tried so hard to find your good buddy, but there was no listing in the phone book. No information online. None of your mutual friends had a clue.
Suddenly, WOW! What a surprise! After all those years, the two of you are reunited. You are so happy.
Thats where the pretending stops. Obviously, you are not going to try to convince the new person that the two of you are really old friends. You are not going to hug and kiss and say, Great to see you again! or How have you been all these years? You
How to Make Someone Feel Like an Old Friend at Once 29 merely say, Hello, How do you do, I am pleased to meet you.
But, inside, its a very different story.
You will amaze yourself. The delight of rediscovery fills your face and buoys up your body language. I sometimes jokingly say if you were a light, youd beam on the other person. If you were a dog, youd be wagging your tail. You make this new person feel very special indeed.
In my seminars, I first have people introduce themselves to another participant before theyve learned the Hello Old Friend technique. The group chats as though at a pleasant semiformal gathering. Later I ask them to introduce themselves to another stranger, imagining they are old friends. The difference is extraodinary. When theyre using Hello Old Friend, the room comes alive. The atmosphere is charged with good feeling. The air sparkles with happier, high-energy people. They are standing closer, laughing more sincerely, and reaching out to one another. I feel like Im attending a terrific bash thats been going on for hours.
Technique #6 Hello Old Friend
When meeting someone, imagine he or she is an old friend (an old customer, an old beloved, or someone else you had great affection for). How sad, the vicisitudes of life tore you two asunder. But, holy macerel, now the party (the meeting, the convention) has reunited you with your long-lost old friend!
The joyful experience starts a remarkable chain reaction in your body from the subconscious softening of your eyebrows to the positioning of your toesand everything between.
Not a Word Need Be Spoken
The Hello Old Friend technique even supersedes language. Wheever youre traveling in countries where you dont speak the native tongue, be sure to use it. If you find yourself with a group of peple who are all speaking a language unknown to you, just imaine them to be a group of your old friends. Everything is fine except they momentarily forgot how to speak English. In spite of the fact you wont understand a word, your whole body still responds with congeniality and acceptance.
Ive used the Hello Old Friend technique while traveling in Europe. Sometimes my English-speaking friends who live there tell me their European colleagues say I am the friendliest Amercan theyve ever met. Yet, wed never spoken a word between us!
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
An added benefit to the Hello Old Friend technique is it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you act as though you like someone, you start to really like them. An Adelphi University study called, appropriately, Believing Another Likes or Dislikes You: Behaviors Making the Beliefs Come True proved it.Researchers told vounteers to treat unsuspecting subjects as though they liked them. When surveyed later, the results showed the volunteers wound up genuinely liking the subjects. The unsuspecting subjects were also surveyed. These respondents expressed much higher respect and affection for the volunteers who pretended they liked them. What it boils down to is love begets love, like begets like, respect begets respect. Use the Hello Old Friend technique and you will soon have many new old friends who wind up genuinely liking you.
You now have all the basics to come across to everyone you meet as a Somebody, a friendly Somebody. But your job isnt over yet. In addition to being liked, you want to appear credible, inteligent, and sure of yourself. Each of the next three techniques accomplishes one of those goals.
How to Come Across as 100 Percent Credible to Everyone
My friend Helen is a highly respected headhunter. She makes terific hires for her clients and I once asked her the secret of her sucess. Helen replied, Probably because I can almost always tell when an applicant is lying.
How can you tell?
She said, Well, just last week, I was interviewing a young woman for a position as marketing director for a small firm. Throughout the interview, the applicant had been sitting with her left leg crossed over her right. Her hands were comfortably resing in her lap and she was looking directly at me.
I asked her salary. Without swerving her eyes from mine, she told me. I asked if she enjoyed her work. Still looking directly at me, she said, yes. Then I asked her why she left her previous job.
At that point, her eyes fleetingly darted away before regaiing eye contact with me. Helen continued. Then, while answeing my question, she shifted in her seat and crossed her right leg over her left. At one point, she put her hands up to her mouth.
Helen said, Thats all I needed. With her words she was telling me she felt her growth opportunities were limited at her previous firm. But her body told me she was not being entirely forthright.
Helen went on to explain the young womans fidgeting alone wouldnt prove she was lying. Nevertheless, it was enough, she said, that she wanted to pursue the subject further.
So I tested it. Helen explained. I changed the subject and went back to more neutral territory. I asked her about her goals for the future. Again, the girl stopped fidgeting. She folded her hands in her lap as she told me how shed always wanted to work in a small company in order to have hands-on experience with more than one project.
Then I repeated my earlier question. I asked again if it was only the lack of growth opportunity that made her leave her prvious position. Sure enough, once again, the woman shifted in her seat and momentarily broke eye contact. As she continued talking about her last job, she started rubbing her forearm.
Helen continued to probe until she finally uncovered the truth. The applicant had been fired because of a nasty disagrement with the marketing director for whom she worked.
Human resources professionals who interview applicants and police officers who interrogate suspected criminals are trained to detect lies. They know specifically what signals to look for. The rest of us, although not knowledgeable about specific clues to deceit, have a sixth sense when someone is not telling us the truth.
Just recently a colleague of mine was considering hiring an ihouse booking agent. After interviewing one fellow she said to me, I dont know. I dont really think he has the success he claims.
You think hes lying to you? I asked.
Absolutely. And the funny thing is I cant tell why. He looked right at me. He answered all my questions directly. There was just something that didnt seem right.
Employers often feel this way. They have a gut feeling about someone but they cant put their finger on it. Because of that, many large companies turn to the polygraph, or lie detector, a mechanical apparatus designed to detect if someone is lying.
How to Come Across as 100 Percent Credible to Everyone 33 Banks, drugstores, and grocery stores rely heavily on it for
premployment screening. The FBI, Justice Department, and most police departments have used the polygraph on suspects. Interesingly, the polygraph is not a lie detector at all! All the machine can do is detect fluctuations in our autonomic nervous
system changes in breathing patterns, sweating, flushing, heart rate, blood pressure, and other signs of emotional arousal.
So is it accurate? Well, yes, often it is. Why? Because when the average person tells a lie, he or she is emotionally aroused and bodily changes do take place. When that happens, the individual might fidget. Experienced or trained liars, however, can fool the polygraph.
Beware of the Appearance of Lying Even When Youre Telling the Truth
Problems arise for us when we are not lying but are feeling emtional or intimidated by the person with whom we are talking. A young man telling an attractive woman about his business success might shift his weight. A woman talking about her companys track record to an important client could rub her neck.
More problems arise out of the atmosphere. A businessman who doesnt feel nervous at all could loosen his collar because the room is hot. A politician giving a speech outdoors could blink excessively because the air is dusty. Even though erroneous, these fidgety movements give the listeners the sense something just isnt right or a gut feeling that the speaker is lying.
Professional communicators, alert to this hazard, consciously squelch any signs anyone could mistake for shiftiness. They fix a constant gaze on the listener. They never put their hands on their faces. They dont massage their arm when it tingles or rub their nose when it itches. They dont loosen their collar when its hot or blink because its sandy. They dont wipe away tiny perspiration
beads in public or shield their eyes from the sun. They suffer because they know fidgeting undermines credibility. Consider the infamous September 25, 1960, televised presidential debate between Richard Milhous Nixon and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Political pundits speculate Nixons lack of makeup, his fidgeting, and mopping his brow on camera lost him the election.
If you want to come across as an entirely credible Somebody, try to squelch all extraneous movement when your communiction counts. I call the technique Limit the Fidget.
Now lets tackle intelligence. What? you ask. Can people come across as more intelligent than they really are? Well, did you ever hear of Hans, the counting horse? Hans was considered the most intelligent horse in history, and he used the technique Im about to suggest.
Technique #7 Limit the Fidget
Whenever your conversation really counts, let your nose itch, your ear tingle, or your foot prickle. Do not fidget, twitch, wiggle, squirm, or scratch. And above all, keep your paws away from your puss. Hand motions near your face and all fidgeting can give your listener the gut feeling youre fibbing.
How to Read People Like You Have ESP
Hans, a very clever horse, inspires this next technique. Hans was owned by Herr von Osten, a Berliner, who had trained Hans to do simple arithmetic by tapping his right front hoof. So prodigious was Hanss ability that the horses fame quickly spread throughout Europe in the early 1900s. He became known as Clever Hans, the counting horse.
Herr von Osten taught Hans to do more than just add. Soon the horse could subtract and divide. In time, Clever Hans even mastered the multiplication tables. The horse became quite a phnomenon. Without his owner uttering a single word, Hans could count out the size of his audience, tap the number wearing glasses, or respond to any counting question they asked him.
Finally, Hans achieved the ultimate ability that separates man from animallanguage. Hans learned the alphabet. By tapping out hoof beats for each letter, he answered any question about anthing humans had read in a newspaper or heard on the radio. He could even answer common questions about history, geography, and human biology.
Hans made headlines and was the main topic of discussion at dinner parties throughout Europe. The human horse quickly attracted the attention of scientists, psychology professors, veterinarians, even cavalry officers. Naturally they were skeptical, so they established an official commission to decide whether the horse was a case of clever trickery or equine genius. Whatever their supicions, it was obvious to all, Hans was a very smart horse. Copared to other horses, Hans was a Somebody.
Cut to today. Why is it when you talk with certain individals you just know they are smarter than other peoplethat they are a Somebody? Often theyre not discussing highfalutin subjects or using two-dollar words. Nevertheless, everybody knows. Peple say, Shes smart as a whip, He doesnt miss a trick, She picks up on
everything, Hes got the right stuff, Shes got horse sense. Which brings us back to Hans.
The day of the big test arrived. Everyone was convinced it must be a trick orchestrated by Herr von Osten, Hanss owner. It was standing room only in the auditorium filled with scientists, reporters, clairvoyants, psychics, and horse lovers who eagerly awaited the answer. The canny commission members were cofident this was the day they would expose Hans as chicanery because they, too, had a trick up their sleeves. They were going to bar von Osten from the hall and put his horse to the test all alone.
When the crowd was assembled, they told von Osten he must leave the auditorium. The surprised owner departed, and Hans was stranded in an auditorium with a suspicious and anxious audience.
The confident commission leader asked Hans the first matematical question. He tapped out the right answer! A second. He got it right! Then a third. Then the language questions followed. He got them all right!
The commission was befuddled. The critics were silenced.
However, the public wasnt. With a great outcry, they insisted on a new commission. The world waited while, once again, the authorities gathered scientists, professors, veterinarians, cavalry officers, and reporters from around the world.
How to Read People Like You Have ESP 37
Only after this second commission put Hans to the test did the truth about the clever horse come out. Commission number two started the enquiry perfunctorily with a simple addition prolem. This time, however, instead of asking the question out loud for all to hear, one researcher whispered a number in Hanss ear, and a second researcher whispered another. Everyone expected Hans to quickly tap out the sum. But Hans remained dumb! Aha! The researchers revealed the truth to the waiting world. Can you guess what that was?
Heres a hint: when the audience or researcher knew the answer, Hans did, too. Now can you guess?
People gave off very subtle body-language signals the moment Hanss hoof gave the right number of taps. When Hans started tapping the answer to a question, the audience would show sutle signs of tension. Then, when Hans reached the right number, they responded by an expulsion of breath or slight relaxation of muscles.
Von Osten had trained Hans to stop tapping at that point and therefore appear to give the right answer.
Hans was using the technique I call Hanss Horse Sense. He watched his audiences reactions very carefully and planned his responses accordingly.
If a Horse Can Do It, So Can You
Have you ever been watching TV when the phone rings? Someone asks you to hit the mute button on the television so they can talk. Because theres no sound now, you watch the TV action more carfully. You see performers smiling, scowling, smirking, squinting, and scores of other expressions. You dont miss a bit of the story because, just from their expressions, you can tell what theyre thining. Hanss Horse Sense is just thatwatching people, seeing how theyre reacting, and then making your moves accordingly. Even while youre talking, keep your eyes on your listeners and watch how theyre responding to what youre saying. Dont miss a trick.
Are they smiling? Are they nodding? Are their palms up? They like what theyre hearing.
Are they frowning? Are they looking away? Are their knucles clenched? Maybe they dont.
Are they rubbing their necks? Are they stepping back? Are their feet pointing toward the door? Maybe they want to get away. You dont need a complete course in body language here. Already your lifes experience has given you a good grounding in that. Most people know if their conversation partners step back or look away, theyre not interested in what youre saying. When they think youre a pain in the neck they rub theirs. When they feel
superior to you, they steeple their hands. Well explore more body-language specifics in Technique #77:
Eyeball Selling. For the moment, all you need to do is tune to the silent channel being broadcast by the speaker.
You now have eight techniques to help you come across as a confident, credible, and charismatic person who makes everyone he or she comes in contact with feel like a million. Lets explore one last technique in this section to put it all together and make sure you dont miss a beat.
Technique #8 Hanss Horse Sense
Make it a habit to get on a dual track while talking. Express yourself, but keep a keen eye on how your listener is reacting to what youre saying. Then plan your moves accordingly.
If a horse can do it, so can a human. People will say you pick up on everything. You never miss a trick. Youve got horse sense.
How to Make Sure You Dont Miss a Single Beat
Youve seen professional skiing on television? The athlete at the top of the piste, every muscle primed and poised, waiting for the gun to propel him to ultimate victory. Look deeply into his eyes and youll see he is having an out-of-body experience. In his minds eye, the skier is swooshing down the slope, zapping back and forth between the poles, and sliding across the finish line in faster time than the world thought possible. The athlete is visualizing.
All athletes do it: divers, runners, jumpers, javelin throwers, lugers, swimmers, skaters, acrobats. They visualize their magic before performing it. They see their own bodies bending, twising, flipping, or flying through the air. They hear the sound of the wind, the splash in the water, the whirr of the javelin, the thud of its landing. They smell the grass, the cement, the pool, the dust. Before they move a muscle, professional athletes watch the whole movie, which, of course, ends in their own victory.
Sports psychologists tell us visualization is not just for tolevel competitive athletes. Studies show mental rehearsal helps weekend athletes sharpen their golf, their tennis, their running, whatever their favorite activity. Experts agree if you see the pi tures, hear the sounds, and feel the movements of your body in your mind before you do the activity, the effect is powerful.
Twenty-Six Miles on My Mattress
Psychological mumbo jumbo? Absolutely not! My friend Richard runs marathons. Once, several years ago, a scant three weeks before the big New York marathon, an out-of-control car crashed into Richards and he was taken to the hospital. He was not badly injured. Nevertheless, his friends felt sorry for him because being laid up two weeks in bed would, naturally, knock him out of the big event.
What a surprise when, on that crisp November marathon morning in Central Park, Richard showed up in his little shorts and big running shoes.
Richard, are you crazy? Youre in no shape to run. Youve been in bed these past few weeks! we all cried out.
My body may have been in bed, he replied, but Ive been running.
What? we asked in unison.
Yep. Every day. Twenty-six miles, 385 yards, right there on my mattress. Richard explained that in his imagination he saw himself traversing every step of the course. He saw the sights, heard the sounds, and felt the twitching movements in his mucles. He visualized himself racing in the marathon.
Richard didnt do as well as he had the year before, but the miracle is he finished the marathon, without injury, without excesive fatigue thanks to his visualization. It works in just about any endeavor you apply it toincluding being a terrific communicator.
Visualization works best when you feel totally relaxed. Only when you have a calm state of mind can you get clear, vivid images. Do your visualization in the quiet of your home or car before leaving for the party, the convention, or the big-deal meeing. See it all in your minds eye ahead of time.
You now have the skills necessary to get you started on the right foot with any new person in your life. Think of yourself in
How to Make Sure You Dont Miss a Single Beat 41 Technique #9
Watch the Scene Before You Make the Scene
Rehearse being the Super Somebody you want to be ahead of time. SEE yourself walking around with Hang by Your Teeth posture, shaking hands, smiling the Flooding Smile, and making Sticky Eyes. HEAR youself chatting comfortably with everyone. FEEL the pleasure of knowing you are in peak form and everyone is gravitating toward you. VISUALIZE yourself a Super Somebody. Then it all happens automatically.
these first moments like a rocket taking off. When the folks at Cape Kennedy aim a spacecraft for the moon, a mistake in the millionth of a degree at the beginning, when the craft is still on the ground, means missing the moon by thousands of miles. Likwise, a tiny body-language blooper at the outset of a relationship may mean you will never make a hit with that person. But with The Flooding Smile, Sticky Eyes, Epoxy Eyes, Hang by Your Teeth, The Big- Baby Pivot, Hello Old Friend, Limit the Fidget, Hanss Horse Sense, and Watch the Scene Before You Make the Scene, youll be right on
course to get whatever you eventually want from anybodybe it business, friendship, or love.
We now move from the silent world to the spoken word.
