Can SILENCE Be Powerful?

Can SILENCE Be Powerful?

Can SILENCE Be Powerful? Unfortunately, regardless of culture. SILENCE has always had an 'uncomfortable' relationship with us all.  Studies show that the typical gap between when one person STOPS and another person STARTS speaking is just about 200 milliseconds long, which is just a fraction of a second.  Another study shows that people start to get uncomfortable when the gap stretches to 4 seconds, whew📗📙📘

So, can we guess WHAT happens when the gap breaches 5 seconds?  I bet one of you rushes to fill the void.  I have to admit this, all throughout my work-life, when I share and cascade my own best practices to our teammates, one of the rules I would constantly reinforce is that as a speaker, if you become silent for 5 seconds, that's long enough to lead your audience to yawn or worst, even catch a quick nap.  BUT this is NO fault though by the speaker who pauses for 5 seconds💴💷💵

Indeed, SILENCE is hard to maintain and that's WHY mastering the void between words can be a true superpower.  And these reminds me of negotiators because they have mastered beyond doubt the art of SILENCE.  Like you make your counterpart talk first and you've shown that you are in CONTROL.  Eventually, chances are, they will give up ground💎💎💎

Which reminds me of CSI, those crime investigations wherein the investigator will start to pry valuable information out of a criminal suspect, with the investigator seated across without speaking, maintaining the eye contact long and very long enough and eventually, most people will end up spilling their guts, voila.  To quote Charles De Gaulle, the famous former president of France: 'SILENCE IS THE ULTIMATE WEAPON OF POWER'📌📌📌

Studies show that there is another benefit to conquering SILENCE, however, one that has less to do with getting information than it does with deepening human connection.  Unfortunately, very few on this planet are naturally gifted to leverage on the POWER of SILENCE but that should NOT stop us from embracing SILENCE because SILENCE CAN BE POWERFUL✅✅✅