The Silent Language of Leaders - by Carol Kinsey Goman (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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."--

Book Synopsis

A guide for using body language to lead more effectively

Aspiring and seasoned leaders have been trained to manage their leadership communication in many important ways. 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. In The Silent Language of Leaders, 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.

• Draws on compelling psychological and neuroscience research to show leaders how to adjust their body language for maximum effect.
• Stands out as the only book to address specifically how leaders can use body language to increase their effectiveness
• Goman, a respected management coach, is widely considered as the expert in body language issues in the workplace

The Silent Language of Leaders will show readers how to take advantage of the most underused skills in the leadership toolkit--nonverbal skills--to improve their credibility and stay ahead of the curve.

From the Back Cover

THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF LEADERS

Aspiring and seasoned leaders have been trained to excel at communicating verbally. 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.

In The Silent Language of Leaders, leadership and communications expert Carol Kinsey Goman explains that in today's fast-paced business environment, where global interactions are increasing, mastering the art of body language is more important than ever. She 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 more than twenty years of experience, and on compelling psychological and neuroscience research, she shows leaders how to adjust their body language for maximum effect and how to:

• Use techniques like "mirroring" to build trust and encourage collaboration.
• Accurately read the nonverbal signals of your counterparts to increase success in negotiations.
• Use body language to project confidence and candor when managing change.
• Communicate nonverbally in virtual environments.
• Channel your gender's natural body language inclinations for improved leadership results.
• Identify which nonverbal signals communicate internationally and which are culture-bound.

Profound changes are shaking up our lives and the kind of leaders the world seeks. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, stay ahead of the curve by mastering the silent language of leadership.

About the Author

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