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Does It Mean Anything?

One interesting exchange I had while on my recent tour went like this: Man: “I love watching people, and I’ve noticed some interesting things.” Me: “Such as?” Man: “I’ve noticed that people who talk without moving their upper lips are usually dishonest.” Me:  “Uh…..Ok.  I recommend you never visit England.” If you read me even occasionally,

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Body Language in the Workplace

The Chicago Tribune online has a column today that discusses body language in the workplace.  The author, Daneen Skube, seems to know her stuff, except when she writes this: However, the body is a powerful communication channel that is mostly ignored or dimly noticed at work, even though studies find body language carries 55 percent of the

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And….We’re Back!

This is what touring is like:  Get up at 3am, take a quick shower, drive an hour and a half to the airport.   Board an airplane, fly two legs to a new city, pick up a rental car, and drive another hour an a half to the hote.   If possible, get in a quick nap,

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More on TSA Behavioral Analysis

A while back I posted about the TSA’s plan to train agents to read body language.  Apparently they’ve already begun to implement this in Boston’s Logan Airport.  This recent story on NPR talks about it:  http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=139643652&m=139666500 Pay special attention to commentary by Paul Ekman, the brain behind the training.  Also note a brief appearance by

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A Reader’s Question

Recently a reader sent me a question.  I deleted the original email, but here’s the paraphrase:   He said his sister always insists upon having her photograph taken with her legs tucked under her and her head tilted.  He wanted to know what that said about her. It’s an interesting question because it says more about

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The Art of the Handshake

Within 30 seconds of meeting a person for the first time, the person you meet will decide two very important things about you.  He will decide whether he likes you, and he will decide whether he trusts you.  The scary part is that he will not make these decisions consciously.  These decisions will be based on

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What The Eyes Reveal

The eyes are said to be windows to the soul.  And it really is true that they can reveal a lot about what a person is thinking about on a moment to moment basis.   The reason they can is that the movement of the eyes, where a person looks, is directly connected to certain types of thought processing.  Psychologists

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A Mess of Mindreaders

If you have a gaggle of geese and a pride of lions, what would you call a gathering of mentalists?  I’m going for a mess of mind readers! Tomorrow I’m going to convene with said mess, because tomorrow is the day I fly to the Meeting Of The Minds, and annual get-together of about 80 of the

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The Power of a Handshake

20 years ago, in my starving artist phase, I would moonlight as a roadie for a stage illusionist.  One of my jobs was setting up his pyrotechnic display.   It always made me nervous, and not just because I constantly risked blowing myself up.  You see, when you use pyrotechnics, you have to notify the local fire

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