Transcripts

Olivia Fox:
Charisma really, in its essence, is how you make people feel about themselves. Someone who is charismatic is someone who draws you in, someone who makes you feel interesting and fascinated.

Charisma coach Olivia Fox, author of The Pocket Guide to Becoming a Superstar in Your Field, says charismatic people are good listeners, they don't interrupt and when they do speak, they pause first.

Because if you answer too quickly, even if it's out of eagerness or enthusiasm, it looks like you weren't really listening or what they said wasn't really important. Instead if you can leave a two second pause after their answer, you make it sound like what they said was so momentous and fascinating that you had to absorb it. You had to let it sink in before you could even think of an answer. You always want to make them feel like they're the most fascinating human beings you have ever met.

Charismatic people understand that…

Essentially people like people who are like them. So while you're listening, see if you can synchronize your body language with theirs. The New York Times has just put out an article bringing together all the signs on mimicry, which is the habit of adapting your body language to theirs. And it showed that people will tend to pick up your dropped items, will tend to buy your products, will tend to trust you and will tend to like you more if you synchronize your body language with theirs.

You can link to Olivia's website from ours: somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.