Book Excerpts

Make Your Executive Presence Felt through These Powerful Gestures for Leaders | EXTRACT

Have you ever wondered what sets successful professionals apart? There’s something in the way they carry themselves, in their body language, in the manner they speak… Shital Kakkar Mehra calls this ‘executive presence‘ the mysterious ‘it’ factor in leadership. Learn from her how you can transform yourself into a confident leader in any field from this extract from Executive Presence: The P.O.I.S.E. Formula for Leadership.

 
Leaders Use Powerful Gestures

An important step in mastering body language is to gain an understanding of how to use your hands. When nervous, hands tend to go crazy. Scratching, playing with your hair, tapping your fingers/pencil, biting your nails, rubbing your neck, wringing your fingers, clenching/unclenching your fists – we have seen them all in corporate corridors. The inability to stay still sends a silent message to your audience: ‘I lack confidence.’

Leaders know gestures count for a lot, regardless of whether they are the ones listening or the ones speaking. They use gestures as visual aids of incomparable effectiveness. Whether speaking at a business meeting or presenting on stage, successful people use gestures to enhance the meaning of their speech, direct their listener’s attention to their words and help underscore important points.

Interestingly, gestures are integrally linked to speech and correct gesturing can ‘power up’ thinking ability of the listeners. When people incorporate gestures into their speech, their verbal content improves as their speech becomes less hesitant with reduced verbal garbage or fillers (‘ums’ and ‘uhs’). Experiment with this during a presentation and you’ll find that the gesturing helps you form clearer thoughts and speak in tighter sentences, with more declarative language.

Business leaders and politicians take several high-power positions:

  • Standing with hands along the side of your body: A powerful visual (citizens sing their national anthem in this posture), this also conveys self-confidence.
  • Putting your hands behind your back and grabbing a wrist: The gesture exposes the most vulnerable part of the body (the upper torso). Do you remember your school days? Principals and invigilators of board exams conveyed authority by strutting down the aisles in this posture.
  • Interlocking your hands and keeping them loosely above your belt: As a rule, all gestures should be above the waist as this posture keeps the shoulders square and creates a stronger visual. If you are feeling awkward or nervous during an important presentation to your boss/client, this posture is an excellent way to convey confidence despite the nervousness.Palms down on the table: Leaders use it to show control as it conveys, ‘I am in charge here and I mean business.’
  • Touching your face: Hand on the cheek shows readiness for decision-making while rubbing the chin signals a dilemma in decision-making.

How much to gesticulate: Aim for small, controlled gestures to indicate leadership and use open gestures to communicate openness/honesty/trust in business. Exaggerated gestures can lead to a red flag as they may imply that you’re stretching the truth. Keeping your movements relaxed and showing the palms of your hands (the ultimate ‘I have nothing to hide’ gesture) are silent signals of credibility and candour. When doing business, remember that open gestures are perceived more positively and are more persuasive than closed gestures.

Leaders’ favourite gesture: A universally successful gesture is the steeple, where the hands are facing up, the tips of your fingers touch but the palms are separated. This is a gesture that signals confidence and self-assuredness. A favourite of successful people across professions and industries, this assertive gesture shows they are in control and are confident about the point they are making.

Downward steeple shows being overwhelmed by emotion and trying to pull yourself together. Prince Harry used this gesture several times during his wedding, especially at the times when there was any mention of his mother’s relatives.

Like in the world of acting, the best hand gestures are those which are natural and synchronized with your speech, making it easy for your audience to remember your message.

Gestures to avoid in business: When we are anxious, nervous or jittery, our body sends out signals and to counter the effect, we engage in self-soothing behaviour to calm ourselves. These patterns of behaviour are learnt in early childhood. Remember your mother rubbing your back, your dad patting your head, your grandmother smoothening your hair? As adults, we resort to several self-pacifying gestures like biting our lips, pressing our lips to a thin line, clenching our fists, wringing our hands, cracking our knuckles, biting our tongue and rubbing the back of our neck. In business, these are some body language mistakes to avoid:

  • Crossing your arms across the body or locking your ankles: Shows a defensive pose and conveys the body language of a person closed off to suggestions/new ideas.
  • Pointing using the index finger: An offensive and aggressive gesture; instead show your open palm which signals innocence, openness and honesty.
  • Hands on hips: Arrogant, aggressive, even intimidating.
  • Hands inside the pockets: A casual stance, this gesture isbest reserved for a coffee/water cooler break.
  • Touching your nose: While touching the tip of your nose shows you are hiding information, touching the bridge of your nose with eyes closed signals ‘No’.
  • Fig leaf posture: Clasping your hands in front of the groin area, a gesture men are often prone to, signals lack of self-esteem.
  • Lack of consistency with words: If your words and gestures are not aligned, it sends a signal that you are not above board in your intentions, and raises a red flag. A firm commitment accompanied with a nervous smile takes away from a leader’s authenticity.
  • Excessive nodding: As sign of anxiety or nervousness, it shows you are seeking approval.
  • Touch: Moderation is the key, as crossing the line of non-verbal communication can quickly take you from confident to downright creepy.

Clearly, these should be sparingly used as they ebb your confidence levels. Master your triggers and it will help you develop self-control.

 

For more useful tips on inspiring confidence with effective leadership, order your copy of Shital Kakkar Mehra’s Executive Presence today!

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