Non verbal communication in determining and shaping political leadership @“Good Governance Vs Strategy”, the evening seminar

It has been said that what you don’t say is as important as what you do say. The role and importance of body language in how leaders are perceived and understood is not a new area of contention. When one studies the success and failure of political leaders worldwide, and their body language this becomes quite obvious. The political success of world political leaders such as Obama, Putin, Angela Merkel and even Narendra Modi’s also epitomised in the positive language that they demonstrate most of the time. When one considers our own political landscape in recent times the role and importance of positive or negative body language in determining how different political leaders are perceived by the masses cannot be underestimated.

Patryk & Kasia Wezowski (of the Center for Body Language in Belgium), Europe’s leading authority on Body Language and ‘Micro Expressions’ were able to successfully predict how the US public, would vote at the last US Presidential election, just by studying the body language and ‘micro expressions’ of a sample of voters who were shown excerpts from the last Presidential debate prior to them actually casting their vote. Micro Expressions are seen as involuntary emotion based ‘leakages’ that take place, especially in one’s face and upper body (neck and shoulder areas included) when such a person is in a ‘high stake’ situation. A high stake situation can be seen as one where the person concerned is likely to ‘gain’ or ‘lose’ much as a result of its outcome. eg.) A political address. They are called as Micro Expressions as they last for a very brief moment approx 1/5 of a second, and are thus not always easy to detect.

At this evening discussion titled ‘Good Governance Vs Strategy ’, one of the presenters Mr. Mario Fonseka, will highlight the nuances of body language that have either helped or harmed different political leaders both globally and locally. You will learn what to avoid and what to project, to create the desired perception of your own self by managing your body language, to be the leader you want to be.

Human Capital Solutions (Pvt) Ltd is organizing this evening discussion, as Part – 1, of its “The Real World” series, which will take place at Sri Lanka Foundation on 06th of next month (3pm to 7pm). Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, TNL Radio & ART TV are the media partners.

For registrations, please call 0778 120890, 0714566996 or 0727- 637723.

The writer, Mario Fonseka is a leading corporate trainer / lecturer, who currently lectures at five different postgraduate programmes, where he teaches a wide variety of subjects. He can be contacted at mario. fons@yahoo.com