Page 74 - Getting to the Heart of High Performance

Most of the signals people focus on will come from your

face, particularly your eyes, in fleeting micro-expres-
sions. They’ll also pick up signals from your tone of
voice, gestures, and body language in general. But what

you say—the actual words you use—will count for noth-
ing in this instant assessment process. Mirror neurons
believe in what they can sense rather than what you
might have to say.

Just how sensitive are the mirror neurons? Studies show
they can be triggered merely by looking at pictures of
other people. For example, Swedish researchers found
that they could activate muscles involved in the

smiling response just by showing people photographs of
happy faces. As Harvard psychologist Dr. Daniel
Goleman writes in Social Intelligence,

“Indeed, whenever we gaze at a photograph of some-
one whose face displays a strong emotion, like sadness,
disgust, or joy, our facial muscles automatically start to
mirror the other’s facial expression.” 9

58 DEEP STRENGTHS