Body Language – Is it a Myth or Reality?

Asoke K. Laha
President & MD,
Interra IT
 

In a casual conversation with a friend of mine, the topic of the importance of body language came up.  Body language is an important barometer of measuring comfort with a person. It is not an exclusive perquisite of all and mighty. People at every level try to feel comfort or discomfort with the presence of people. My feeling is that the first impression always carries weight, though such approximations or conjectures are mostly ephemeral. 

Let me explain a situation that I am mostly aware of and that is about how the US businessmen look out for their comfort zone while meeting a person, such as business partners, potential employees, strangers or a casual meeting with a buddy in the street. I think the Americans give a lot of importance to handshakes. A firm handshake and exchange of pleasantries can make a lot of difference. Even the raising of hats to greet each other has a style and tenor. We have seen films where business executives attend the official meetings. They are nattily dressed and impeccably keep their exterior. 

Let us look at Japanese. They bow in a peculiar way, while exchanging the visiting cards. They also tend to bow even while making a statement or while acknowledging someone else’s statement. Indians, particularly from the traditional business families, touch the feet of the elders and seek their blessings before they set out for any business deals. There are myriad ways in which people go about doing such things. 

Soft skills definitely have relevance in a setup where marketing is a sole criterion and nothing more is expected from the person. Can everyone be impressed with that put-up gestures, articulation and politeness?  What is the guarantee that a person who is good in impressing others can continue to do so every time?  Let me take an example. A few years back, there was a spree of recruitments from IITs and IIMs. The B-schools of all hues and colours used to come out with enticing salaries being offered. I am not questioning the sanctity of those figures. But my genuine concern is that if a boy or a girl drew rupees one crore annually five or six years back, calculated in a progressive manner, that person’s salary could have perked up to rupees three crore per annum by now. The moot point is that anyone keeping track of such developments can trace their present status of such persons.  I am told that, in many cases, such persons have languished due to a variety of reasons, particularly on account of higher expectations from them. But their body language would have remained the same, as before. 

At this juncture I am reminded of the real-life experience of Lord Maynard Keynes, considered to be the doyen of economic theory and was the main architect of the revival of the world economy after the Great Depression of 1930s. He appeared for the Indian Civil Service Examination, which used to be held in London and the precursor of the Indian Administrative Service Examinations. He cleared in all papers, except in Economics and did not come to the expected level in the interview. As a result, it denied him the coveted ICS. Later, he became the world’s famous economist and the branch of economic theory he propounded is known as Keynesian economics, which still has got the relevance in the modern world. Here the question is how you can link body language with intrinsic worth of a person. 
 

Is there any generational gap that would have subsumed the conventional concept of body language? Quite possible!  Look at the number of Chinese and Japanese students studying in the US universities or elsewhere in the developed world. Some of them study there from the undergraduate level to the their postdoctoral or get their businesses started there or become an American citizen after their studies, etc. They slowly acquire the attributes of an American in their social behaviour. No longer do they get grooved into the traditional customs and body language.  
 

Can education dictate the body language of a person? Certainly, it can. To a very great extent, education can change the outlook of a person. But one cannot generalize on that. I have seen so many people who   are highly educated becoming superstitious and believing in the art of mumbo jumbo. That type of people one can see across the world. I do not want to enter into a debate as to what are the reasons for such skewed behaviour. It could be uncertainties in life or the indomitable will to succeed in whatever they enter into – be it business, profession or even academics by hook or crook. I am intrigued to know what is the body language of people who reverberates such characteristics: meek, aggressive, plinth, sober or laidback? I do not know.
 

Finally, does the body language of a technocrat different from a generalist. It is often said that a technocrat is laidback, while a generalist is aggressive. But I have seen people who are reverberating the opposite of these attributes: scientists who are very aggressive and generalists or administrators more sublime. Then, all these things have something to do with DNA. Now the DNA also can be manipulated. Does it mean body language also can be manipulated?  Frankly speaking, I do not have an answer.