Video Clip of Top Exec Using Assertive Hand Gestures to Convince His Audience and Disabuse it of Wrong Notions

[Rewritten on February 26, 2017]

The clip below, which I recently “rediscovered” while combing through my archives, features then U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood giving an exemplary and instructive performance at a 2010 Congressional hearing. He appears at the 1 minute 5 second mark.

Whether you are a top corporate executive, a manager or supervisor, or, say, a low-profile environmentalist addressing a bunch of misguided climate change deniers, Ray LaHood’s hand gestures will be a valuable addition to your “nonverbal vocabulary” for accentuating your most important words and sentences during a meeting, Q&A, and the like.

Among the infinite variety of situations where LaHood-style emphatic gestures, especially palms vertical in a rigid slicing motion, can be eminently useful:

• when trying to convince, reassure, or inspire someone
• when trying to rid people of their disbelief or incredulity
• when reinforcing or underscoring a key statement
• when giving an oral guarantee

You can bet that in future executive coaching sessions, the LaHood clip will be one of my prized exhibits, especially when illustrating executive presence.

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal