Subtext: Beneath the Surface and Between the Lines of Workplace Communication

253 Pages·1991·1 MB·english

by  Julius Fast

PENGUIN BOOKS
BODY LANGUAGE IN THE WORKPLACE
Julius Fast lives in New York City. In addition to his exper-
tise as a writer and researcher, he has spent many years in
the business world, having held positions at Smith, Kline &
French, Perdue Fredericks, and the publications Science
and Medicine and Medical News. He has also given
numerous seminars to businesspeople and lawyers. Among
his books are Body Language, The Body Language of Sex,
Power, and Aggression, Talking Between the Lines, and
Sexual Chemistry.
BODY
LANGUAGE
IN THE
WORKPLACE
J u l i us F a st
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England
First published in the United States of America as Subtext by Viking Penguin,
a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1991
Published in Penguin Books 1994
3 5 7 9 1 0 8 64
Copyright © The Philip Lief Group, Inc., and Julius Fast, 1991
All rights reserved
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint
"Prologue: The Birth of Architecture" from "Thanksgiving for a Habitat"
from W. H. Auden: Collected Poems by W. H. Auden.
Copyright ©1963 by W. H. Auden. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER AS FOLLOWS:
Fast, Julius.
Subtext: Making body language work in the workplace/Julius Fast.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-670-83238-3 (he.)
ISBN 0 14 01.7815 5 (pbk.)
1. Communication in personnel management.
2. Interpersonal communication. I. Title.
HF5549.5C6F37 1991
650.1-3—dc20 90-50466
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Bodoni Book
Designed by Beth Tondreau Design/Mary A. Wirth
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to
the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
FOR
BARBARA
A C K N O W L E D G M E N TS
I would like to express my debt
and gratitude to the many people who have helped me so generously
with their time and knowledge. They are too many to list individu-
ally, but among them, I must thank the following:
Edward Lubell
Walter Pfister
Joyce Grillo
Anthony Thompson, OBE
Deborah Howard
Ingrid Ehrenberg
Edward Jaworowski
C O N T E N TS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• vii •
INTRODUCTION
SUBTEXT
• 1 •
WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET
SUPERTALK
• 38 •
• i x
CONTENTS
3
TOUCHY SITUATIONS
• 48 •
4
BODY LANGUAGE: THE EYES, THE HEAD,
AND THE HANDS
• 58 •
5
BODY LANGUAGE: GESTURES, POSTURE,
AND SPACE
. 79 .
6
INSIDE OUT
. 92 .
TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES
• 120 •
8
ASPECTS OF POWER
• 135 •
9
THE JOB INTERVIEW
• 157 •
10
THE MAGIC BEHIND THE SALE
• 175 •
• x •
CONTENTS
11
DANGEROUS LIAISONS
• 192 •
12
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: SUBTEXT AND THE
GLOBAL WORKPLACE
• 204 •
AFTERWORD
. 229 •
INDEX
• 233 •
x i