No matter what you do or where you are, the Corona Virus, or specifically, COVID-19, is an inescapable reality. Across the country, the numbers of the afflicted and the dying are growing, ‘shelter in place’ is only now becoming a more uniform policy from state to state and over the horizon, past the flattened curves and hot spots, will the world as we knew it ever return to normal?

Yes and no, says body language expert and physician, Dr. Jack Brown. The specialist in nonverbal communication, who’s provided analyses and commentary on politicians and public figures for news outlets such as NPR, CNN, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal, believes that the virus, how leaders are addressing the health crisis, and its alteration of human behavior, the economy and expectations of modern medicine, represent  “the single largest reset” of our time.  

During a recent phone conversation, as he sheltered in place near Henderson, Brown talked about the main components of nonverbal communication, what makes leaders how leaders and business owners relatable and how to approach changes with confidence and care.

“People often ask me, what does it mean when someone’s eyes do this, or when their lips do that?” Brown said. “You don’t have to bullet-point each action of someone’s body language, specifically, like I or another expert would do or endeavor to teach you to do, but it is super-important to look at what’s being done and said, in context, and not to over-simplify a specific behavior.

“Part of that context is the words, the volume, the tone of voice and what their bodies are doing as they speak,” he said. “One thing I say to audiences is, if they forget anything else discussed during the lecture, is to always, always gut-check what’s going on: ‘What is their body language saying to me? What are their words and their tone saying to me?’ If all three of them align, that’s a person you will probably like and believe. If your gut tells you something doesn’t seem right, then those three things aren’t lining up.”

Recent polls have shown that many people are skeptical about how much President Donald Trump has done to stem the crisis. What should leaders and business owners to convey confidence and goodwill during this time?

“If a leader displays empathy during a crisis, such as when people are suffering or dying, by showing mourning on their faces, you’re going to buy into their emotions,” Brown said. “If you feel that what they’re showing you is real, even if you don’t personally like them, you’ll feel a connection and feel more bonded as a people and the tragedy becomes a shared experience.

“However, if a president, senator or principal of a school doesn’t express that, then people won’t feel it, and those that follow them become fractured,” he said. “You don’t feel like you’re one with the guy down the street, or in Cleveland or in North Carolina. There’s a particular facial expression that you see: sad mouth with a contracted line in the central part of the forehead, going up. I’ve analyzed Pres. Trump thousands of times, hundreds of those analyses are published, and never once have I seen him display an expression of empathy. Not one time.”

Since we’re all navigating uncharted territory, so to speak, how can leaders make sure they’re coming across effectively to peers and employees?
“For business leaders and employers, I would say to them, pretend that all of the people they’re talking to in meetings are family members, that you love them. And because you ‘love’ them, you’re not going to be taking down to them.” Brown said. “You may know more about the given subject than they do, but still: you should feel like, ‘this is my extended family.’

“When you have affection for people, such as family and friends, you tend to use more eye contact, at least 40 to 70% of the time, when addressing them. And that builds true connections and bonds.”