Executive Presence: The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO

1 The Natural Laws of Perception: How the People around You Perceive You

WE ARE AT our core a society of pitchers. No, we’re not talking baseball here, though we all certainly wind up and deliver—and, on a regular basis, square off against—the occasional metaphoric curveball, brush-back, and unfairly called third strike. Pitching—the kind that pleads a case and asks for the order, that wraps an agenda within a message and ties a neat bow of sincerity around it—is the very essence of commerce, the lifeblood of law and politics and romance (closely aligned endeavors that they are), the fundamental stuff of human interaction.

We pitch our beliefs and our dreams to our children. We pitch our qualifications at job interviews. We plead our case in ...