The Ape in the Corner Office

Ok, Claire didn't give "Blink" a lot of credit, but I still think it is very fascinating. Indeed, "Blink" is talking about a lot of common sense, however, it is very helpful to some slow-nerved people like me. I guess it is due to my choice of career, I didn't get to deal with people on daily basis. Also, there has not been too much office politics falling upon me (good or bad?), I consider myself very slow in face reading. I am now staring at people's face more. However, interestingly that you can sometimes feel easy when talking and looking into the conversation partner's eyes yet sometimes uneasy.

In my retrospect, I don't think it has anything to do with power or ranking, it has more to do with personality clicking. I guess I unconsciously decide the tone, the voice and the mood of the conversation 2 seconds I meet with a person. Of course, if I feel the partner is ready to accept me, the whole process is going to be more fun. Eye contact is so crucial in expressing the green light. Once the trusty bonding builds up, ideas and coversations flows both ways.

But I did mis-interpret quite a few people before. I think that is because I didn't know myself well enough and, consequently, I didn't know the impact I have on people. Well we should feel grateful that this situation is only going to get better as experience accumulated, perhaps that's the only upside of getting old.

Another very interesting book by Richard Conniff, "The Ape in the Corner Office". The way we behave is really not too far away from Chimps...