Hey its Min from The Art of Verbal War, where people learn to excel in verbal skills.
Today, we're going to talk about non-verbal communications.
Something that's linked to verbal skills as much as a nice steak is linked to my mouth.
Got it?
When you think of amazing body language, who do you think of?
The person that comes to mind for me is Don Draper of the TV show "Mad Men".
We all know that body language is important, but WHY is important?
Body language is important because its a window to your soul.
You can tell how someone is feeling about themselves merely by looking at their body
language.
Number two, body language is also important because it can either ENHANCE or DETRACT from
your verbal skills.
In fact, body language is way more important than verbal skills.
In my book "Vocal Superstar: How to Develop a High Status Voice", I wrote that body language
is actually more than 6-7 times more important than the actual words you use when it comes
to the impact that these elements have on communication.
But no matter what you believe, there's no question that body language is at least as
important as the words you say.
Yes, the show Mad Men is already over but the character Don Draper still lives on, especially
in YouTube videos like this one.
This character will always be a role model for men.
Maybe not in terms of the choices he makes but definitely in the way he carries himself.
If you watch Don Draper, he may not even be saying anything, but he's definitely communicating
with the way he carries himself with his body language.
Just one look at him communicates everything you need to know about him.
His self-confidence, everything about what he's trying to say when he's persuading people
or pitching a client.
So without no further ado, let's take a look at some examples of WHY Don Draper's body
language is so badass and what you can learn from him.
In this first example, look at how Don is so relaxed and his body language reflects
that.
Even in tense conversations, he's relaxed.
Well, not always.
The only time he's not so relaxed is when his wife is questioning him about his affairs,
but that's not the point.
In this second example, Don just has the look of a boss.
This scene leaves no question who the boss is.
He's the most relaxed person in the room.
And he orders his employees around.
He says "give me more ideas to project".
When he uses the word "project" he makes one minimal hand gesture for emphasis.
Remember that if you use hand gestures, you want to use them minimally.
You never want to use them frantically like I see a lot of people doing.
Unless you want to give the opposite effect.
In this third example, see how he's always leaning back?
When you lean in to talk to people, you actually end up betraying your power and status.
Don is always leaning back, making others come to him.
Even during an important interview with a reporter where he's trying to repair some
serious PR damage, he's not trying to persuade the reporter by leaning in.
By leaning back, he's showing confidence in what he's saying.
Okay number 4.
There's a gleam in his eye when he's pitching a client about an idea.
Remember you can make people feel an emotion with just the look in your eyes.
Number 5.
He's in the middle of a pitch here.
During that pitch, he actually takes his sweet time with his presentation.
He gestures very slowly so as to make his clients hang on to his very word.
He never rushes his words and he doesn't rush his gestures.
Number 6.
Check out the eye contact he's giving.
Again, he's in a pitch and he's making sure he's giving the client deep/piercing eye contact
when he's delivering his important message.
There's so much power in his one look here.
It's so convincing and so persuasive.
So, in this next scene, he's walking into the office.
When he walks, he walks with swagger.
Head up, chest out, but also relaxed.
And that relaxed part is very important.
His swagger shows the world how he feels about himself, which is, he's feeling damn great
about himself.
Number 8.
Check out this open body language that he's showing.
This is actually a tense boardroom scene.
Look at how the guy to his left has totally different body language.
Its completely closed off.
When your body language is open, it shows confidence.
Like "bring it on, I can't be fazed.
I'm not scared of you defeating me because I know I'm going to win".
But when your body language is closed, it shows that you're anxious, fearful, and defensive.
Okay, here's the last scene.
In this scene, he's having a toast with his partner Roger, but when they toast, Don doesn't
extend his glass out.
He just holds it in front of him.
Roger ends up having to bring his glass to Don.
When he does that, we can see who has more status and power in that relationship.
It goes back to that point that I talked about earlier which is Don Draper is always leaning
back.
He makes people come to him.
Okay my friends, I've given you everything you need to channel your inner Don Draper.
Until next time, keep being excellent and please subscribe to this YouTube channel.
www.artofverbalwar.com/conversation101