The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help--or Hurt--How You Lead

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., president of Kinsey Consulting Services (KCS), is a leadership coach, management consultant, keynote speaker, and seminar leader for corporations, associations, and government agencies. Clients include over one hundred organizations in twenty- four countries—corporate giants, such as Consolidated Edison, Royal Bank of Canada, and PepsiCo; major nonprofit organizations, such as the American Institute of Banking, the Healthcare Forum, and the American Society of Training and Development; high-tech firms, such as Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Texas Instruments; membership organizations, such as the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Conference Board; government agencies, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, and the Library of Congress; and international firms, such as Petroleos de Venezuela, Dairy Farm in Hong Kong, and Wartsilla Diesel in Finland.

Body language has always played a key role in Carol’s professional life. Prior to founding KCS, she was a therapist in private practice—reading nonverbal cues to help clients make rapid and profound behavioral changes. Today, as an executive coach, Carol helps leaders build powerful and productive business relationships by using body language that projects confidence, credibility, warmth, and empathy.

Carol has an extensive background in organizational ‘‘people issues.’’ She’s published eleven books and more than three hundred articles in the fields of organizational change, leadership, communication, the multigenerational workforce, collaboration, employee engagement, and body language in the workplace. Carol is a human resource columnist for Troy Media and a frequent contributor to Forbes.com and the Washington Post ‘‘On Leadership’’ column. An upbeat and entertaining guest, she’s been featured on radio and television shows including NPR’s Marketplace, CNN’s Business Unusual, ABC’s The View from the Bay, and NBC Nightly News.

Carol has served as an adjunct faculty member at John F. Kennedy University in the International MBA program, at UC Berkeley in the Executive Education Department, and for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States at its Institutes for Organization Management. She is a current faculty member with the Institute for Management Studies.