Archive | Random Thoughts

The Body Language of Leadership

Leaders use many different strategies to motivate their ranks.  Some try to be everybody’s friend, while others try to be as intimidating as possible.   Which strategy is best depends on circumstances and the personality of the leader, but most studies identify two key dimensions to leadership that can be reinforced by body language:  likeability and authority.  Put simply, people are […]

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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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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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Using Body Language To Spot Terrorists

Can airport security personnel be trained to spot the bad guys from behavioral clues?  The science journal, Nature, casts a skeptical eye.   Of particular interest to me is this passage: Most credibility-assessment researchers agree that humans are demonstrably poor at face-to-face lie detection. SPOT traces its intellectual roots to the small group of researchers who […]

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A Magic Touch?

Recent research is verifying something that mentalists have known for decades:  touching somebody in a gentle yet firm way can greatly increase the chances they will comply with your wishes.  Depending on context,  the odds that they will do what you ask them to can nearly double.  As a technique for influencing people, touching can […]

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