[SOUND] So how many
have you actually
seen this email at
some point in time?
Now the thing is that in this email, who remembers what do they ask you to do if
you actually come across a mountain lion?
>> [SOUND] >> Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
>> [LAUGH] >> Now we won't judge you if you say
strategic communication is probably the last thing on your mind if you actually
come across a situation like this, which is very obvious.
But yet, if you actually closely look at the contents of the email, it actually
asks you to probably take certain actions which are actually taught in this class.
Now, as human beings,
we don't comprehend that we'll ever come across a situation like this.
But our ancestors thousands of years back but
actually this would be quite common for them, on an everyday basis.
And the actions they will take, how quickly they will move,
the body language that they'll portray, or the sounds they'll make
could make a difference between a hearty meal and being eaten heartily.
>> [LAUGH] >> Over a period of time with evolution,
humans created language.
And with language, we started getting more and more dependent on words.
And something that Martin actually already spoke about,
that 95% of what people treat other people comes from how they feel but
yet we have concentrated probably more than 95% on the words that we use.
Social scientists have actually proven that close to 55%
of the impact that you can make on people, comes from your body and
the posture that you make in front of people.
How many times have you had this instance where you're presenting at a meeting,
where people are supposed to be really impressed by what you are going to say?
They are probably sitting like this.
And that's why social scientists believe that humans are probably the worst species
today in the world to actually learn body language from
because we all give conflicting signals.
And they recommend that you go back to the basics and
actually study animals to understand the real power of body language.
>> So unsurprisingly, we can draw parallels to the lessons we've learned in
this course about non-verbal communication with animal behavior.
Typically, when we think about non-verbal communication,
we think about submissive or dominant behavior when it comes to animals.
However, two of the key lessons that we learned in strategic communication focused
on appearing.
Gosh, guys.
Appearing focused.
Appearing larger versus appearing smaller and
ensuring eye contact with the audience.
Now, for example, when we are appearing smaller, we tend to turn inwards.
We hunch down.
We cross our arms.
We close our legs.
And sometimes we even run in behind objects out of fear from the audience.
Similarly, in the animal kingdom, when animals are appearing smaller,
they tend to have submissive behaviors.
They also hide.
They also appear small and they also appear small.
And all these, gosh.
Essentially, the submissive animal is giving up his or
her power to the dominate animal.
Contrasting that,
when we appear larger, we make our bodies take up as much space as possible.
We own our territory.
We walk around.
We stand with our hip width, with our feet width apart and
we open our arms confident, unafraid of the audience.
Similarly, in the animal kingdom, primates or
alpha male primates, they typically open up as well.
They also open up their arms.
They also tempt to position themselves aggressively, ready to fight.
While we certain don't want to mimic what animals do,
because we probably wouldn't have any friends, Professor Amy Cuddy talked about
power poses, and power poses mimic the type of poses that we want to have.
Open postures.
Being able to take up territory and space.
And these are dominant power poses.
However, when we have low power poses, we tend to be inwards as well.
And as you can see, these replicate submissive body language.
The last lesson that we actually learned was also ensuring eye contact with
the audience.
And the reason why we need to ensure eye contact is because we want to make
a connection with the audience members.
Now, sometimes if we don't make that connection,
the audience thinks that we're fearful.
But when we do make that connection, they believe that we're confidant and strong.
Similarly, in the animal kingdom,
not making eye contact with another can be a submissive sign.
However, one of the ways you can dominate someone with eye contact in the animal
kingdom is if you hold a stare long.
And I don't know about you, but if you've ever had an experience with someone that's
staring at you for a long period of time, you tend to move back.
And that's our primitive nonverbal cue that it's time to move forward.
>> But, let's take it one step further.
How many of you, by show of hands, think I am an introvert?
Half and half.
[LAUGH] It's irrelevant, okay?
[LAUGH] The point was that
by the time I reached the center of the stage.
You all, most of you, already formed an opinion of me.
Research shows that it takes as little as one-tenth of a second
for us to judge someone just based on face.
Body posture.
Am I confident?
Am I strong?
Am I trustworthy?
Am I a liar?
Am I a leader?
Or am I a follower?
How is that possible?
How can we frame somebody in a split second just
based on visuals?
Again, it's animal communications and basic instinct.
Since the beginning of time, we've been trained like animals to
identify creatures as predators or pray, as leaders or followers.
And we have to do that in a split second, because it's a matter of life and
death, often.
So we, like animals, communicate way before we even speak.
And we do that in the blink of an eye.
Why does that matter?
Well, effective communication
is a matter of survival.
Powerful performances can lead people to act as much
as they can stop a mountain lion from attacking.
Weak ones can turn people against you or can turn you into a meal for a lion.
So it is critical to learn, for all of us,
effective communication skills to be able to make good first impressions and
carry them forward in social situations or in public speaking engagements.
And we believe animals can teach us a lot about it.
And I wanna show you one little example.
This kitty cat is a hero.
He's facing, he's facing a big, oddness, a big monster.
Much greater than, and scarier.
But look at it's communication skills.
>> [LAUGH] >> Strong stance, excellent eye contact.
He's making himself big, as big as he can get.
And he moves with purpose towards the audience, but not too close.
[LAUGH] He's going to survive, probably by faking it.
I'm sure he's terrorized inside.
And the leash, of course, helps.
>> [LAUGH] >> [SOUND] So
whenever we meet somebody that we're scared of.
An employer.
An investor.
Or a mountain lion on a hiking trail.
Remember the little hero.
Stand big and tall.
Maintain eye contact.
Move with purpose and stay calm and breath.
It will serve you well.
Now we open up for questions.
>> Shawn?
>> Are there instances where, you want to vary your body posture, and not be big?
>> Yes. Especially if
you're having a group meeting or a group session where you know the individuals,
you tend to want to more or less to have a friendly conversation or a friendly vibes.
So in that situation, you don't want to have a big posture.
You kinda wanna more or less follow the group in order to create that comradery.
Yes, Allison?
>> Eye contact seems to be something where it could be threatening or
at times connective.
So how do you know when the right time is?
>> In general, maintaining eye contact, just like when you deal with a person, you
don't wanna stare at somebody too close or too intensely, because that is freaky.
Same with animals.
You want to maintain eye contact, and some animals may have more power than others,
and then in that case, you may want to be more intense.
But if you read books, they say, maintain eye contact, but sometimes
move your eyes away, just not to be too threatening.
>> And one of the key signals that you can see from a person,
if you feel that the stare may be,
the gaze may be too long is that they start walking back away from you.
And that's a key signal that you're probably having,
your eye contact's a little bit too strong for them.
>> That date's not gonna happen.
>> Yeah.
Yes JB?
Oh, Ryan?
>> And how do you think about so I can see big and tall and moving with purpose,
like going well together.
I also see some potential between not and being just much more relaxed.
How do you think about the tension between this?
>> I don't think there's any tension.
Calm and breathing are not,
and being tall and big are not mutually exclusive.
I can be tall and big and just be completely calm and breathe it in.
So there are the two different states, two different things.
But animals can sense when you're not calm.
They actually want you to become tense, because that makes you weaker.
Same with public speaking engagements.
The moment you become tense and nervous, that's when you basically falter.
>> Like me.
Yes, JD you had a question?
>> How did you guys come up with this topic, this is fascinating,
where'd the idea come from where'd the source come from?
>> So this was exactly we were sitting in the Bass Library and
we were discussing what topic we should be going by,
and that's when this email message actually print up.
>> [LAUGH] >> And that's where, coincidentally,
I just clicked on the link which actually says that if you want more details, and
it just came to us as probably an interesting topic to look at.
>> And power posing is one of those topics that Professor Amy Cuddy,
she's had a TEDx talk about it.
And she gives this advice that holding those power poses or
being able to be in a power position for two minutes even before an interview can
be very helpful and can boost your confidence for that event.
Okay?
>> Now that we have covered the power of doing all these four together, and
we actually got a question as to how do you maintain that?
We're gonna show you an experiment which was done by some BBC correspondent
where they pitted against 15 starving lions the most
powerful weapon that a man has and that's his confidence and his body posture.
I'm gonna share the video with you.
Actually what the results was.
Don't worry, it's not gory.
So as it happens, these lions have just killed a prey after almost four days and
they're as a family now feeding on their kill.
And the three people out there, one of them is a very experienced hunter.
But they are not carrying any weapons with them except some bow and arrow,
which is not gonna help, of course, if 15 lions attack you all together.
And just see what we do.
So in the sound, you will actually hear this gentleman talking about,
all you have with you is your confidence and your body posture against these lions.
And the lions actually run away.
and they go on to actually take a piece of the kill.
That the lion has just killed upon and
take it with them without getting harmed by the lions.
This is a picture I wanted to share with you.
The next time, you're pitted against either an audience of hundred,
or the ten top notch VCs who are known to be really, really anal,
please go back to this video.
And just remember, what counts is your own ability to stand in front of people and
with confidence.
Thank you.
>> [APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC]