generation of young employees and their baby booming boss is widening in
the age of electronics, says Australian body language guru Allan Pease, who
has co-authored 15 bestsellers with wife Barbara.
What happens is most of the Generation Y employees at workplaces are under
32. They are the techno-savvy Facebook generation who know more than their
parents. Their bosses are baby boomers 45 and above. That has created
different perceptions of the world between the older generation and young
workers, Pease told IANS in the capital.
The body language honcho, whose best-sellers like The Definitive Book of
Body Language, Why Men Want Sex and Women Need Love and Why Men Lie and
Women Cry have sold 25 million copies in 51 languages, was in the capital
to address a select group on the importance of body language, lifestyle
trends and his books, which are distributed in India by Manjul Publishing
House.
Pease and his wife Barbara, who work out of UK and Australia, appear on the
global media regularly and their work has been made into a television
series.
Exploring the workplace psyche of older bosses, Pease said, They perceive
that the employee will work hard, remain loyal, tell the truth and will
remain with the company till he retires.
Generation Y thinks that is stupid stuff and wants to change job every
three years.
The body language of the two generations of professionals is also a world
apart, the he said.
At the coffee shop of the hotel where I was staying (in Delhi), I saw six
people on the table besides mine four were in their 20s and two in their
40s, a man and his wife. They probably owned a company and the youngsters
were employees armed with Blackberrys. The four young people were SMSing
across the table to send messages to each other. The employees were not
looking at each other while they were sending messages, Pease, who is in
his 60s, said.
The older couple was appalled that they were not attracting attention, the
body language instructor said.
Pease said the cardinal body language rule at the work place is to switch
off the mobile phone while in a meeting or put it on the silent mode.
But my 28-year-old son does it (messages on his mobile phone) all the time,
especially when his mother is talking to him. It is typical of the
generation. When they talk to the baby boomers (45 plus), they cant keep
eye contact, he said.
Pease observed that the Generation Y brains are being rewired by the
electronic media.
Most of them are most likely to get a job because they dont have a body
language (and they cannot talk). Body language makes 60 percent to 80
percent of impact between people, but electronics is cutting the younger
ones away from their immediate surroundings, Pease said.
The body language guru said the dependence on electronic gadgets was a very
alarming trend for youngsters which made meeting and recognising partners
(mates) difficult and where they should stay away.
A woman in her 50s knows who is sending signals to her around in a room,
but a 25-year-old (whose uses the mobile phone and SMS for communication)
is less aware of it. We have never been good at body language, he said.
Pease blames the disconnect with body language on satellite television and
Hollywood which will not allow countries like India and Russia to retain
their traditional cultures.
I do not allow my children to watch cartoons that are faster than real time
… or anything that has anger or griefon television. Doctors warn that the
re-wiring of the brain because of television does not allow them to relate
to what is happening in real time, Pease said.
He says physical proximity between parent and child develops body language
among children.
I have six children (and five grandchildren) and I touch (pet) my youngest
son Brandon, who has just turned seven, all the time to stimulate his
brain. Doctors say men have 10,000 touch senses in their body and women
25,000, Pease said.
Body language tips for young executives
Here are five body language tips for the young executive by grooming guru
Allan Pease:
1. Always carry a briefcase or laptop to one side when you go for an
interview or meeting, preferably in your left hand so that you can shake
hands with the right.
2. Dont wear a goatee to an interview.
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