This is the third installment of my series on the Globis MBA course “Power and Influence.”
Day 3 covered two themes: “Moving Other Departments” and “Impression Management.” In Session A, we examined a case study of a physician at a university hospital who had a strong track record of reform in his own department but failed to win support from other departments for his next proposal. In Session B, we explored Mehrabian’s Rule and the practical techniques of non-verbal communication and impression management.
As someone who has spent 28 years in the IT industry, the lessons from Day 3 hit close to home. “Why can’t I get approval when my proposal is technically sound?” “Why doesn’t the room shift in my favor when I know my content is solid?” If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, this article is for you.
Session A: Moving Other Departments
The Case Study
Session A focused on a physician at a university hospital who had successfully led reform within his own department but hit a wall when trying to scale those methods across the entire institution. Despite an impressive resume and proven results, his next proposal met resistance. Through class discussion, we identified three key barriers.
Barrier 1: Too Big-Picture, Not Enough Specifics
The protagonist’s vision involved a structural redesign of the entire organization — ambitious and sweeping. But its high level of abstraction made it difficult for frontline stakeholders to picture what it would actually look like in practice. It was dismissed as “idealistic” and “unrealistic.”
This is a familiar scene in IT. When you propose a new infrastructure platform and say things like “it optimizes the whole system” or “this is where we’ll be in three years,” the people on the ground are thinking: “What changes for me tomorrow?” and “What happens to my job?” The grander the vision, the more anxiety it creates for the audience.
Barrier 2: Trust and Perception Issues
The protagonist had top executive support. However, he had not built trust with the middle management layer — the people who actually run operations. He hadn’t adequately addressed how his proposal would affect the authority and stability of existing departments led by key figures in finance, HR, and operations.
Furthermore, his direct and passionate communication style may have come across as aggressive to some stakeholders. “Stating the right thing forcefully” does not automatically “move people” — and this is one of the fundamental lessons of power and influence.
Barrier 3: Envy and Self-Interest
One of the liveliest discussions in class was about envy. We distinguished between two types:
- Jealousy: Recognizing someone else’s success and feeling motivated — “I should step up my game too.”
- Envy: Being unable to accept someone else’s success, feeling that “they’re getting special treatment” or wanting to “pull them down.”
In this case, the protagonist’s stellar credentials and track record may have triggered envy within parts of the organization. In a decentralized structure, outstanding achievement can provoke defensive reactions: “They’re getting all the spotlight” or “They’re encroaching on my territory.”
The Core Message: The Courage to Step Back for the Greater Good
The most important takeaway from Session A was this: if the cause is important enough, be willing to step out of the spotlight and achieve it through others.
No matter how sound your vision is, “being right” alone won’t move an organization. To turn a proposal into reality, you need three strategies:
- Frame it as a win for middle management: Reposition your proposal so that it connects to their responsibilities and performance metrics.
- Take an incremental approach: Before unveiling the grand vision, start with quick wins that deliver visible results.
- Leverage top-level sponsors strategically: Don’t have them issue direct orders. Instead, have them send indirect signals that shift the organizational mood.
In my own career leading IT infrastructure modernization projects, I’ve run into this wall many times. “Technically correct” doesn’t make department managers move. They move when they’re convinced that “this benefits my team too.” And that means designing the initiative so that they become the hero — not you.
Session B: Impression Management
Mehrabian’s Rule — Only 7% of Communication Is Words
Session B shifted focus to the power of non-verbal elements in communication, starting with Albert Mehrabian’s well-known research:
- Visual information: 55% (facial expressions, posture, attire, gestures)
- Vocal information: 38% (tone, volume, speed, pauses)
- Verbal information: 7% (the actual words)
In other words, when we decide “I trust this person” or “I want to follow this leader,” the actual content of their words accounts for just 7%. The remaining 93% comes from how they look and sound.
Of course, this doesn’t mean content is irrelevant. The research shows that when verbal and non-verbal messages contradict each other, people prioritize the non-verbal cues. No matter how excellent your content is, if your non-verbal signals undermine it, your message won’t land.
Looking back at the Session A case, the protagonist’s proposal was fundamentally sound, yet communication style issues may have created barriers before the content was even considered. Impression management is, in essence, the prerequisite for getting the chance to compete on substance.
Nine Elements of Non-Verbal Communication
The class covered nine elements of non-verbal communication. Consciously controlling these is the practice of impression management:
Facial expressions, eye contact, posture, gestures, physical distance, touch, attire and appearance, vocal tone and pace, and silence or pauses. Every one of these acts as a “credibility filter” for the words you speak.
Vocal Impression Management
Vocal impression management has four components:
Volume: Too loud feels intimidating; too soft signals a lack of confidence. Context-appropriate volume control is essential.
Speed: Speaking too fast creates an impression of nervousness; too slow feels boring. Deliberately slowing down at key points is an effective emphasis technique.
Pitch: Generally, a lower pitch conveys calm and trustworthiness, while a higher pitch conveys warmth and energy.
Pauses: Well-placed pauses give the listener time to think and build anticipation for what comes next. “Not fearing silence” is a critical communication skill for leaders.
Visual Impression Management — Strategy Through Attire and Color
Within the 55% influence of visual information, clothing and color are the easiest elements to control.
The class discussed examples of business leaders who used attire strategically. Some chose impeccably tailored suits to project authority and trust. Others opted for more relaxed styles to signal innovation and approachability. In both cases, their clothing communicated a message before they ever opened their mouths.
Color also plays a role. Navy and gray convey reliability and stability. White signals cleanliness and integrity. Red communicates passion and leadership. What you wear to an important presentation isn’t a matter of fashion — it’s a matter of strategy.
Five Factors That Generate Liking
The class also covered five factors that make people feel favorable toward others:
- Physical attractiveness: Grooming and a clean, put-together appearance
- Similarity: We feel closer to people who share common ground with us
- Compliments: Genuine praise serves as a lubricant for relationship building
- Exposure (mere exposure effect): The more often we see someone, the more we tend to like them
- Association: Being linked to positive things enhances how others perceive us
“Similarity” and “exposure” are particularly actionable in a business setting. Finding common interests through casual conversations with key stakeholders in other departments, or creating regular touchpoints even without a specific agenda — these are the groundwork for getting your proposals accepted.
Revisiting the Session A case, one reason the protagonist struggled with middle management may have been insufficient “exposure” and failure to establish “similarity.” While he had strong relationships with top leadership, he may have lacked everyday interactions and shared problem awareness with the operational-level decision makers.
Non-Verbal Skills Become More Critical as You Rise
The core message of Session B was this: the higher you go in management, the more important non-verbal communication becomes.
At the individual contributor level, you can win on the accuracy of your data and the quality of your deliverables. But as you move into manager, director, and executive roles, the weight shifts toward judgments like “Can I trust this person?” and “Do I want to follow them?” Those judgments are driven less by the content of your words and more by your bearing, your tone, and your overall presence.
If your first impression is poor, you may never get the chance to compete on substance. This single idea was the through-line of Session B.
Impression Management in the Age of Virtual Meetings
One area where Day 3’s lessons particularly resonated with me was their application to online meetings. On a small Zoom window, much non-verbal information is stripped away. But that also means every remaining visual and vocal cue carries even more weight than in person.
Camera position (eye-level alignment), background, lighting, and microphone quality — these are the “non-verbal communication” of the virtual era. In environments with network latency, managing “pauses” becomes tricky, and it’s important to consciously use nods and verbal acknowledgments to signal “I’m listening.”
My Personal Takeaways from Day 3
Escaping the “Rightness Trap”
After decades in IT, I tend to place too much value on being “technically correct.” The right architecture, the right security design, the right operational policy. But the Day 3 case taught me that “being right” can itself become the biggest obstacle to getting a proposal accepted.
When you’re confident you’re right, you unconsciously slip into an attitude of “Why don’t they understand?” But from the other side, the correctness of your proposal matters less than “What happens to my position?” and “How does this affect my team?”
What the case protagonist needed to learn — and what I’ve had to relearn many times — is that “saying the right thing” and “making the right thing happen” are completely different skills. The latter requires understanding the other party’s interests, speaking in their language, and sometimes being willing to take your name off the credits to achieve the greater goal.
Impression Management Is Not Deception
Some people may associate “impression management” with “being fake.” But Day 3 reinforced my belief that impression management is really about “the skill of delivering your substance accurately.”
Even the best proposal is worthless if it never reaches the audience. Consciously controlling non-verbal communication is an act of “increasing the resolution” of your message — it is not deception. In fact, you could argue that neglecting your impression and allowing others to misread you is the greater failure of communication integrity.
Summary: Day 3 in One Sentence
The two sessions of Day 3 may seem like different topics on the surface, but they are deeply connected.
Session A taught us that being right, by itself, doesn’t move people. Session B taught us that to deliver substance, you must manage the impression that surrounds it.
In other words, exercising influence means designing both “what you say” and “how it lands.”
For someone who has built a career in IT, this lesson isn’t about abandoning the pursuit of correctness. It’s about acquiring the skill to deliver correctness — and that has been a turning point in my career.
In the next installment, Day 4, we’ll dive deeper into concrete strategies for exercising power.
