BMA eBook - Manual / Resource - Page 25
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WARM
COLD
Lean inward in a nonaggressive
manner to signal interest and
engagement.
Place your hands comfortably
on your knees or rest them on
the table.
CARTOON: NICK DOWNES
Aim for body language that feels
professional but relaxed.
cent research led by Dacher Keltner, of the University
of California, Berkeley, shows that feeling powerful
in this way allows you to shed the fears and inhibitions that can prevent you from bringing your fullest,
most authentic and enthusiastic self to a high-stakes
professional situation, such as a pitch to investors or
a speech to an influential audience.
Stand up straight. It is hard to overstate the
importance of good posture in projecting authority
and an intention to be taken seriously. As Maya Angelou wrote, “Stand up straight and realize who you
are, that you tower over your circumstances.” Good
posture does not mean the exaggerated chest-out
pose known in the military as standing at attention,
or raising one’s chin up high. It just means reaching
your full height, using your muscles to straighten
the S-curve in your spine rather than slouching. It
sounds trivial, but maximizing the physical space
your body takes up makes a substantial difference in
how your audience reacts to you, regardless of your
height.
Get ahold of yourself. When you move, move
deliberately and precisely to a specific spot rather
than casting your limbs about loose-jointedly. And
when you are finished moving, be still. Twitching,
fidgeting, or other visual static sends the signal that
you’re not in control. Stillness demonstrates calm.
Combine that with good posture, and you’ll achieve
what’s known as poise, which telegraphs equilibrium and stability, important aspects of credible
leadership presence.
Standing tall is an especially good way to project
strength because it doesn’t interfere with warmth
in the way that other signals of strength—cutting
gestures, a furrowed brow, an elevated chin—often
do. People who instruct their children to stand up
straight and smile are on to something: This simple combination is perhaps the best way to project
strength and warmth simultaneously.
Try not to angle your body
away from the person you’re
engaging.
Crossing your arms
indicates coldness and a
lack of receptivity.
Avoid sitting “at attention”
or in an aggressive posture.
IF YOU want to effectively lead others, you have to
get the warmth-competence dynamic right. Projecting both traits at once is difficult, but the two can be
mutually reinforcing—and the rewards substantial.
Earning the trust and appreciation of those around
you feels good. Feeling in command of a situation
does, too. Doing both lets you influence people more
effectively.
The strategies we suggest may seem awkward at
first, but they will soon create a positive feedback
loop. Being calm and confident creates space to be
warm, open, and appreciative, to choose to act in
ways that reflect and express your values and priorities. Once you establish your warmth, your strength
is received as a welcome reassurance. Your leadership becomes not a threat but a gift.
HBR Reprint R1307C
“For the plaintiff in this case, your honor, the product’s bold assertion—
‘easy-opening lid’—was a cruel and vicious lie.”
July–August 2013 Harvard Business Review 9
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