Dr. Lillian Glass- Power of a Political Candidate’s Body Language and Speaking Skills on the Election

As a communication and body language  expert, I believe that if one is to succeed in whatever they want to accomplish, they must have good communication skills and body language so that they can effectively get their message across. The reality is that people to judge you and make decisions about you  based on the way you communicate and how you present yourself. This is extremely important for anyone who is running for office as we have seen throughout the years.

     Before all the Wikileaks and before we knew Donald Trump would be Hillary Clinton’s running mate, I believed that Hillary Clinton with her massive experience and knowledge could be a good leader. However, I felt  that her  boring monotone, lack of inflection, lack of emotion, and disconnected body language would prevent her from getting her message across effectively. That is why  I volunteered  ( free of charge) to give her some pointers to help her get her message across. I did this by contacting John Podesta,  her campaign manager in June of 2105 (a year and a half ago well before the Wikileaks revelations) to see if I could be of service. The results were that I never heard from him or anyone in the campaign and I never worked with Hillary to help her with her communication skills.

      There was no doubt in my mind that I could  help make Hillary  a phenomenal and charismatic public speaker, just  as I have done for thousands of my clients who are the public eye from politicians, to Academy Award Winning actors, producers,  top models, newscasters, high profile sports figures,  fashion designers, to corporate leaders . I have worked with the most famous people in the world and have given them the confidence to shine whenever they spoke publicly. If you want a list of some of them, you can go to my website at www.drlillianglass.com to see what they have to say about me.

      Today, I use my skills  as an expert witness in criminal and civil trials as well as serving as a  litigation consultant where I help witnesses prepare for trial as well as  doing jury selection. One of the most dramatic examples of my work in this area concerns a client who was awarded no money by a jury in a mock trial. After working with me, a jury awarded him $33 million dollars. 

So I know what I am doing  and I know how to do it. When pitted against Donald Trump in the speaking arena, Hillary definitely needed to step it up communication wise to even the playing field. No matter what you think of Donald Trump, his communication skills and body language are outstanding. He knows how to effectively speak to massive audiences. He knows how to use his tones,  volume, intensity, and inflection to get his message across. His body language is connected with the words he uses and what he says. Thus, it is easy to follow his message. He comes across genuine and passionate about what he says and what he believes in. 

In many of the debates Hillary was not as effective. She was monotone, droned on and on, was mechanical and robotic, had limited inflection, did not use her intonation and volume effectively, and was not able to effectively  coordinate her breathing with her speaking to have more control over her speech and voice. In fact, I believe many of the coughing fits were due to the tension of her vocal cords and not being able to coordinate her phonation with the air flow, which often happens when people are excited about what they are going to say. Her body language was stiff and mechanical and did not often match what she said. When she was given a verbal zing by Donald Trump during the debates, she smiled inappropriately. It has been later discovered that someone coordinated her speeches and told her when to smile. This made her look odd and disconnected in my view. Her facial expression did not match the emotional reaction that should have occurred in the situation.  

As one of the leading communication and  body language experts, I did a lot of analysis of both candidates  for the press. I was always objective. I never put my political views into the mix. I was able to do that not only because I am a complete professional, but I had met both candidates throughout the years on numerous occasions. I found each one of them to be gracious, kind, warm, and respectful to me. I liked both candidates equally. So there was no issue about politics, who I liked better, or who’s policies I liked better. My only concern was how did they come across from a  a communication and body language standpoint.  

I was always fair. When Hillary did something positive, I stated it in the press and in my Dr. Lillian Glass Body Language Blog. When Trump did something positive, I stated that as well. But I soon discovered that whenever I would say anything positive about either candidate, I was accused of being their supporter. Whenever I reported anything negative about either candidate, I was accused of being a supported of the other candidate.

 The level of hatred that came out from people, even those whom I had known throughout the years, was shocking. In the 30 years that I have done analysis of Presidential  and Vice Presidential candidates, I have never experienced anything as disturbing as  this. No matter how many times I told my  blog readers and viewers that I was not partial  to either  candidate,  that I was not a political person, and that my assessment was in no way  political, but strictly from a communication standpoint, I continued to see their hostile vitriol. It showed me that this election has inflamed people. It  made once rational people, act irrationally, and has brought out a level of hate that has turned many into TOXIC PEOPLE, who I describe in my best- selling book Toxic People- 10 Ways of Dealing With People who Make Your Life Miserable .

 

Recently, Melania Trump gave a speech. I stated that as a future First Lady, she  needs some major help in terms of how to present herself, so that her message could be better communicated. While her accent is charming, there are many aspects of her speech, voice, and body language that can use some major tuning. I am confident that I can help her as well. If the opportunity arose I would be more than happy to do so. 

My work and expertise has no political or party basis. I am an equal opportunity communication and body language expert. My aim is to help people from every walk of life,  be the very best can be so they can get their message across effectively.

Along with my abilities to help others, I am very astute at reading when someone is not being forthright. In fact, I have  written a book called  The Body Language of Liars to help others learn to do the same- to detect deception. So when  I saw many signals of deception in many of the women who spoke out to  accuse Donald Trump of harassment, I spoke out with my observations as well. While I am very sensitive to anyone who has been sexually harassed and do not believe in blaming the victim, in many of these instances based on the words and body language we all observed, one has to objectively question who and who is not a victim.  We have to see what IS, not what we would like it to be, or collapse personal views on to the outcome.

There have been some very damaging things that have surfaced about both candidates – the Wikileaks revelations about Hillary and with the vulgar words from Trump’s own mouth. In this day and age, we have come to learn that there are no secrets, as we have seen the flaws in both candidates up close and personal. 

Nevertheless through this election,  we have also seen the power of communication and poer  body language and how the body, the voice, and speech patterns don’t lie.