I’m not a big boxing fan. But I’ve seen some pretty one-sided fights where the loser is getting so badly beaten all he can do is keep his opponent at bay.
He’s backpedaling, crouching, bobbing and weaving — maintaining as much distance as possible between him and the other guy.
That’s the right strategy for a prizefight but a completely wrong one if you’re trying to win an account and build a business relationship.
So why use language that creates separation? Continue reading →
Today I want to talk about the impact our emotional currents have on the way we present ourselves to others.
We’ve talked before about the potency of body language. Expansive gestures and postures make us feel more powerful, and in turn we convey that sense of confidence to others. It’s a well-established principle in psychology that the mind follows the body’s cues.
Authority
In 2008 Dr. Deborah Gruenfeld, a social psychologist at Stanford, teamed up with a theatre instructor to offer a class at their business school called Acting with Power. The idea was to go beyond purely academic learning so students could engage their whole beings in the process of influencing others.
Actors, she observed, make their audience believe simply by…well, acting the part. So why can’t we, in our ordinary day-to-day roles, embody and project the person we want to be by simply playing the part? Continue reading →
They may fix the weather in the world
Just like Mr. Gore said
But tell me what’s to be done
Lord ’bout the weather in my head
Donald Fagen of Steely Dan
I don’t mean the rain and snow weather, I’m talking about the emotional weather inside us.
This emotional weather – moods, feelings, and attitudes — plays a central role in empathizing with others, and empathy is a critical aspect of all relationships, business and social. Continue reading →
“… [P]eople will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
Emotions are the fundamental drivers of the decisions we make. We’re drawn to what we like, we avoid what we don’t like, and then we explain and justify those choices with reason and logic.
We can’t succeed at selling without understanding the essential role emotions play in connecting with people and influencing their actions. Continue reading →