The Silent Language of Leaders How Body Language Can Help--or Hurt--How You Lead

by Goman, Carol Kinsey

• ISBN13: 9780470876367
• ISBN10: 0470876360
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-19
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

Aspiring and seasoned leaders have been trained to manage their leadership communication in many important ways: how they provide feedback and motivate employees, how they convey the strategy for their organization, how they interact with major clients or partners. And yet, all their efforts to communicate effectively can be derailed by even the smallest nonverbal gestures such as the way they sit in a business meeting or stand at the podium at a speaking engagement or the amount of eye contact they give in a one-on-one meeting. Despite an abundance of leadership development programs and books that focus on effective communication, there?s little understanding of how nonverbal communication affects?positively or negatively?a leader?s success.In The Silent Language of Leadership, Carol Kinsey Goman explains that personal space, physical gestures, posture, facial expressions, and eye contact communicate louder than words and, thus, can be used strategically to help leaders manage, motivate, lead global teams, and communicate clearly in the digital age. Drawing on compelling psychological and neuroscience research, she shows leaders how to adjust their body language for maximum effect and offers advice for global business leaders. Some of the advice includes: Avoid shallow breathing while giving a pep talk to employees. Research shows that a shallow breather can make an entire room feel anxious and thus lead listeners to not believe the speaker. When meeting with employees in your organization with whom you don?t interact often, give them an eyebrow flash?the rapid raising of the inside corners of the eyebrow. This signal is used mostly involuntarily, for example, when you run into someone you know on the street. But it is also a powerful way to subtly show recognition and interest in someone. At the next business dinner or face-to-face meeting, find a table that allows you to sit at right angles to each other. Research shows that people are more interactive when seated at right angles that when straight across from each other. Next time you?re leading a meeting, notice if any audience members cover or block their mouths, which usually indicates skepticism. If you see this gesture, stop talking and address their disbelief: ?I know some of you have doubts about what I?ve just said,? or ?You look skeptical. Can you tell me what your concerns are??Profound changes are shaking up our lives and the kind of leaders the world seeks: sharp economic swings, increasing global competitiveness, new technologies, social and cultural shifts, and the reshaping of our organizations. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, leaders need every tool available?including nonverbal skills?to improve their credibility and stay ahead of the curve.

Author Biography

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., founder of Kinsey Consulting Services, is an executive coach, management consultant, and keynote speaker for corporations, associations, and government agencies. She is a faculty member for the Institute of Management Studies and has served as adjunct faculty at John F. Kennedy University in the International MBA program and at the University of California in the Executive Education Department. She is the author of The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work. For more information visit: www.silentlanguageofleaders.com

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Leadership-Body Language Connection	p. 1
Leadership at a Glance	p. 13
Your Three Brains	p. 15
Wired for Body Language	p. 18
The Eye of the Beholder	p. 20
Personal Curb Appeal	p. 21
Five Mistakes People Make Reading Your Body Language	p. 27
When Your Body Doesn't Match Your Words	p. 32
The Body Language of a Great Leader	p. 34
Negotiation	p. 35
Four Tips for Reading Body Language	p. 38
Are They with You or Against You?	p. 42
Dealing with the Disengaged	p. 53
Are They Bluffing?	p. 54
Body Language Guidelines for Negotiators	p. 57
Leading Change	p. 67
This Is Your Brain on Change	p. 68
The Body-Mind Connection	p. 73
Announcing Change	p. 79
What Do People Want from You?	p. 90
The Power of Empathy	p. 91
Collaboration	p. 93
The Universal Need for Collaboration	p. 94
Wired to Connect	p. 97
Six Body Language Tips for Inclusion	p. 102
The Importance of How You Say What You Say	p. 108
Using Space	p. 111
Dress for Success	p. 121
What Your Office Says About You	p. 123
Familiarity Breeds Collaboration	p. 125
Communicating Virtually and Face-to-Face	p. 127
Technology, the Great Enabler	p. 129
Six Tips for a Conference Call	p. 135
Important Tips for Videoconferencing	p. 137
Technology Brings a New Range of Communication Options	p. 138
What's So Great About Face-to-Face?	p. 143
He Leads, She Leads	p. 151
The Neuroscience of Gender	p. 152
Why Jane Doesn't Lead	p. 155
Thirteen Gender-Based Differences in Nonverbal Communication	p. 159
Leadership Styles of Men and Women	p. 163
The Body Language of Male and Female Leaders	p. 164
Body Language Tips for Male and Female Leaders	p. 168
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus	p. 174
Working with Global Teams	p. 177
Culture	p. 179
Cross-Cultural Body Language	p. 188
Lessons Learned	p. 193
International Body Language	p. 195
Greeting Behaviors	p. 200
Business Cards	p. 204
Time	p. 206
Distance and Touch	p. 211
Eye Contact	p. 215
Seating	p. 217
Emotions	p. 221
Women	p. 225
Closing Words of Advice	p. 226
The Nonverbal Future of Leadership	p. 237
All Generations Bring Change	p. 238
The New Generation of Workers	p. 240
Gen Y and the Future of Visual Technology	p. 242
The Future of Leadership	p. 248
Predictions for the Future of Body Language	p. 249
Acknowledgments	p. 255
Notes	p. 257
About the Author	p. 265
Index	p. 267
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