Entries categorized as ‘Nonverbal’
The meaning of the gesture is clear whether it’s with one upturned palm, the “Brother, can you spare a dime” stance of beggars around the world, or with the two-palm version favored by preachers who reach out to beseech divine assistance. Or by exasperated Hollywood directors who rise from their chairs with upturned palms to implore their actors, “Work with me, people!”
The upraised palm is the automatic accompaniment to an apology or an alibi. As you try blaming the computer for eating your homework, you shrug your shoulders and expose your palms as a show of helplessness. What could I do? How could I know?
Primatologists claim that gestures and speech evolved simultaneously into language. And that the upturned palm is
one of the oldest and most widely understood signals in the world. It’s
activated by neural circuits inherited from ancient reptiles that
abased themselves before larger animals. Chimps and other apes, notably
humans, adapted it to ask not just for food, but also for more abstract
forms of help, creating a new kind of signal that some researchers
believe was the origin of human language.
The whole story is at A World of Eloquence in an Upturned Palm - New York Times
Categories: Nonverbal
For six years, it was a perquisite that the Home Depot chief executive, Robert Nardelli, could not do without: a catered lunch for his top deputies, served daily on the 22nd floor of the company’s headquarters in Atlanta.
But several days into his tenure as Nardelli’s successor, Frank Blake quietly abolished the free meal, telling senior executives to take the elevator down to the first floor and buy their own lunches with the rank and file in the cafeteria, according to an employee.
It is the kind of symbolic gesture that has come to define Blake’s short time as head of the largest U.S. home improvement retailer as he tries to distance himself from the tumultuous reign of Nardelli, who was ousted several weeks ago over his sky-high pay package and authoritarian style.
Blake’s message could not be any less subtle: the era of the imperial chief executive at Home Depot is over.
To underscore the point, Blake has distributed an old company icon, called the Inverted Pyramid, that lays out the retailer’s hierarchy, with customers and employees above the chief executive on the bottom. (IHT).
See also a NYT article.
Categories: Leadership · Nonverbal
