dispatches from the new world of work

The "Little Stuff"

As you know, at the moment I'm obsessed with the "little stuff"—as I have called it here, the "last 98%," that is the heart of implementation-execution. Here, without comment, is another factoid—with which most of you are already familiar. Body language accounts for about 60% to 80% of so-called "verbal" communication. No surprise, women are muuuuuuuuuuuch better at reading body language than men.

My most recent source is the very readable (fun) The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allan and Barbara Pease. [They also authored another of my fun-but-serious favorites, Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps.]

Tom Peters posted this on 03/24/08.

Comments

There's a great quote by Mae West that says, "I speak Body and English." I agree that body language is one of the strongest forms of communication however it is one of the things we study the least. I've coined a new term, "Body As a Second language"(BSL). As a man maybe this could help improve my English.

Posted by Kaplan Mobray, Author 10Ks of Personal Branding at April 5, 2008 8:25 AM

From my experience and research, most definitely body language is crucial. Although in paying attention to someone, I also want to listen up to the quality of his words, pitch of voice, if he/she uses para-language and/or meta-messages and/or overt/covert agendas, so forth. Put simply, I go envision the person gestaltically (holistically, systemically, and systematically).

Posted by Andres Agostini at April 10, 2008 4:31 PM