Body Is Saying By Joe Navarro: An Analysis

Reading is essential to developing the skills necessary to be successful in nearly every career. An uneducated doctor puts all of his patient’s lives at risk, and an uneducated salesperson is potentially going to end up homeless. Fortunately, we live in an era in which millions of books are only a few clicks away from being read, but with so much content readily available it can extremely challenging to decide which page to read first. Reading books related to one’s career can be highly beneficial to their career, but that does not mean an unrelated book cannot be just as beneficial. A prime example of a book that is highly beneficial to any reader regardless of their career is Joe Navarro’s book, What Every BODY Is Saying. Navarro’s book

At the start of the chapter Navarro pointed out, “In observing for signs of comfort, discomfort, confidence, or other displays of feeling, the arms serve well as emotive transmitters” (109). Here Navarro is pointing out the different emotions that can be observed through the nonverbal cues of the arms. While the arms aren’t as telling as the legs and feet, they still have their own place in the world of reading body language. The most useful nonverbal cue that Navarro noted is called, “Arm withdrawal” (110). Arm withdrawal is when someone pulls their arms to their sides or crosses them near the abdomen. This happens when a person is worried or threated due to our body’s instinct to protect its internal organs. Within nearly every career it is important to attempt to understand what could be causing these emotions to happen. By understanding where these emotions are stemming from we can do our best to put that person at

Navarro starts this section by saying, “Our hands are extremely expressive… or reveal our innermost thoughts…an understanding of hand behavior is crucial to decoding nonverbal behaviors, for there is practically nothing your hands do that is not directed—either consciously or subconsciously—by your brain” (133). It would be hard to disagree with this statement due to the colossal amount of actions performed by our hands every single day. Our hands are used constantly to portray our emotions and speak to others. Think about how odd it would be to listen to someone tell a story without moving their hands at all. Within this section Navarro notes, “Effective hand movements enhance our credibility and persuasiveness” (134). It is no secret that our hands help us speak to others, but in the world of business it can be helpful to know how to use them to our advantage. A salesman that has mastered the art of speaking with his hands will close countless more deals than the stiff handed