THE POWER OF A HANDSHAKE
Devin C. Hughes
Award Winning Keynote Speaker | Best-Selling Author | Leadership Coach | Workplace Culture Muse | Top 200 Global Employee Engagement Thought Leader | Board Member | Adjunct Faculty
Your Handshake Reveals More Than You Might Guess
Let's face it -- there's nothing more off-putting than when someone proffers a limp hand with a weak grip. To me, it can convey apathy or even disgust on the part of the limp-shaker.
On the other side of the spectrum, an unnecessarily gruff and gorilla-gripped handshake tells me that the person may either be incredibly insecure and is trying to cover that up, or is trying to assert their dominance. Either way, how you shake hands can tell the person on the receiving end a lot about you and your personality.
Interestingly, there are studies that have been done to meter the effects of different styles of handshakes. It isn't all just "in our heads" when we find ourselves a little creeped out by that "dead fish" shake... check out this great article from the Beckman Institute on the findings of some of these studies.