Body Language - Part II

In Part I, we saw the importance of body language in the work place. I’m sure most of us feel that we don’t really need to learn about body language for various reasons. Some of us might feel that we are already quite good at it whilst others don’t know how to begin. Well, why not take a short quiz to see how good you are at interpreting Body Language?

The video below is made up of five segments showing top CEOs of multinational companies being interviewed. Focus on the following:

1. Tone and pitch of voice;
2. Facial expressions;
3. Hand gestures;
4. Posture and overall body language; and
5. Your emotional reaction towards their body language.

The Quiz:



Film 1: Carleton Fiorina (Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard)
1. How would you characterize her from what you have seen? (E.g. tough, soft?)
2. How do you feel about her smiles? (E.g. genuine, forced?)
3. How is she giving emphasis about important things (E.g. head tilted, clenched fist?)
4. Watch the video at 1:34 to 1:39 again. Do you notice anything unusual about her body language?
5. What is the pitch of her voice? (E.g. slow, fast, confident?)

Film 2: Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft)
1. Look at his hand gestures. How do you feel it shows about his character? (E.g. committed, aggressive, confident?)
2. Why do you think he is leaning forward in his chair? (E.g. seducing the audience, trying to establish rapport?)
3. As the audience, how do you react to his body language? (E.g. angry, interesting, boring?)
4. Do you feel he fails to establish rapport with the audience? If yes, why is that?
5. Is he raising barriers between the audience and himself? If yes, what are the barriers that you see?

Film 3: Peter Brabeck (Chairman of Nestle)
1. How would you characterize him? (E.g. all-knowing teacher, smooth-talking salesman?)
2. Do you find him interesting? If so, what captivates you about him? (E.g. voice, demeanor, hand gestures?)
3. Which of his hand gesture best reflects his character?
4. How do you feel about the image that he is portraying? (E.g. interesting, boring, narcissistic?)

Film 4: Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple)
1. How do you about his self image? (E.g. geeky, friendly?)
2. How do you feel about his arm and hand gestures? (E.g. confident, anxious?)
3. What are his worst gestures during the interview?
4. Is he charismatic?

Film 5: Richard Branson (CEO of Virgin)
1. What is your first impression of him? (e.g. anxious, confident?)
2. What could be indicators that he is anxious?
3. Is there anything unusual happening in the video at 9:01?

Overall:
Which of the following CEOs showed the best body language?

Think about these questions and jot down your answers. Spare about half an hour for this exercise if you really want to gauge your ability to read body language. Once you have done so, you can go to the link here to input your answers and obtain the results. I would appreciate if you could share your results and opinions here. Many thanks to anaconda2610 for sharing this with us.