1st Edition
Subliminal Leadership Why It Is as Important as Emotional Intelligence
Understanding the power of subliminal influence makes or breaks leaders. What is it that subliminally motivates people to give their best, not just what’s in their job description? How do you build an outstanding team? (Spoiler: it’s not just by putting the best people in a team.) The answer lies in the power of subliminal influence. This book explains in a clear and accessible way this important, yet little known and understood, area of psychology and leadership.
As Emotional Intelligence helped managers and leaders to understand the importance of empathy in the workplace, Subliminal Leadership takes us to the next level by explaining how influence through non-verbal communication mostly happens below the threshold of our conscious awareness: subliminal forms of body language and communication which influence other people's attitudes, thinking and behavior – and which may boost, or undermine a leader's authority, the performance of teams or the quality of key customer relationships. Readers will learn how we unconsciously communicate and how we positively or negatively influence other people in the process. Understanding subliminal influence will help people in, or aspiring towards, leadership positions to build trust, understand others’ emotions, make better decisions, and strengthen professional relationships. Based on recent scientific research in disciplines as diverse as psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, medicine, neuroscience, and management studies, the book offers a breakthrough, multidisciplinary approach to influence and leadership.
This book is for everyone interested in the psychological, biological, and medical dimensions of leadership.
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Leadership in context
Leadership in organizations
Day-to-day leadership
2 Leadership as social influence
Influence, leadership, and evolutionary biology
Making sense of the world
Touch
Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Interoception
Proprioception
3 Brain, mind, and body
The mind–brain connection
The mind–body connection
Latent talent
4 The underworld of the subliminal
Character assassinations
Smelling memories
Fright or flight
5 Influence, emotions, and self-leadership
Homo sapiens vs. Homo corporaticus
Amygdala hijack and the fear of flying computers
Fear, risk-taking, and innovation
Buckle up and enjoy the ride
Emotional framing
6 We communicate more than we think
Every body communicates
No glossing over glossophobia
The power of gaze
7 Empathy revisited
The busy sidewalk challenge
Random acts of influence
Reading the room
8 Everyone is an influencer
Botox and the power of embodied emotions
Dressing the part
Touching experiences
A face for radio
Beauty: More than just in the eyes of the beholder
9 Emotional contagion
The 1962 Tanzania laughing epidemic
First olfactory impressions count
A good nose for bad health
The persistent smell of aggression
Will you join us for our smellwalk?
10 The power of humor, trust, and charisma
Humor, a universal language
Funny speeches and other ordeals
Trust – the social superglue
Trust me, I’m smiling
Charisma: A gift from the gods?
Making it stick: The secrets of powerful speech
11 Leading with guts
Credit to the roomers
Gut health and gut decisions
The power of kraut-based computing
12 The intuitive leader
All quiet in Anacostia
Making intuitive decisions work
Steve Jobs and the dork problem
Intuitive farming
13 Connecting brains
Spooky action at a close distance
The leader as entrainer
Brain synchronization and team performance
14 Toxic leadership: An organizational spectrum disease
The productive narcissist
What makes a psychopath?
The oxymoronic successful psychopath
Welcome to our Jurassic organization
Is the world in need of toxic leaders?
Nutric leadership: An antidote
Ethics in action
Commitment
Kindness and modesty
Honesty and candor
A positive mindset
Strength and decisiveness
Health and energy
Vision and empathy
15 Epilogue
Index
Biography
Thomas Frankl had senior management positions in Fortune 500 companies and the United Nations. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Munich and has been teaching at Swiss business schools and universities for over ten years. He co-founded three companies and is the Chairman of Ruti Group which owns and operates a 800-pupil school in Nyamata, Rwanda.
