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154 It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor

a sense of self-confidence through their body language. They usually
make good eye contact, sit up straight—no slouching—greet people
with a strong handshake, smile, and seem relaxed with who they are.
To contrast, take note of people who appear less self-confident or
powerful. They may have a weak handshake, keep their eyes down-
cast or roaming, slouch, or speak in a hesitant voice. All of these
actions send signals across a room, and it only takes a few minutes
for others to generate an impression from them.
Another good idea is to have a friend observe you in action com-
municating in meetings or making presentations, and give you feed-
back on your particular body language in those situations. Ask about
your eye contact, posture, hand gestures, attentiveness, and enthusi-
asm. Be sure to ask for their ideas on what you do well along with
what you do that might be getting in the way of you being perceived
as a powerful and effective communicator.

Guideline 2: Become an Active Listener

Communication is always a two-way endeavor. It’s important to learn
to be a good listener and to demonstrate that you understand other
people by paraphrasing or repeating what they say back to them in
a different way, summarizing what you think their main points are,
and using short prompts like- Uh-huh, Really?, or I see, as well as
other supportive body language to convey your interest.
Ann Hackett, president of Horizon Consulting Group, LLC, says
that listening is the best way to better understand your organization
and what it does. People are often so eager to make a contribution at
a meeting or in a conversation that they don’t take time to listen and
understand what is going on around them. They can easily misunder-
stand or underestimate the value a business is trying to create, what’s
on the minds of the people in the room, or the company’s values and
how they play out organizationally. As a result, poor listeners can