Patterns of non-verbal communication and leadership: A comparative case study in the technology sector

Abstract

In the field of journalistic interviews, direct communication is established between the interviewee and the journalist. This exchange provides interviewees with the opportunity to carry out a media projection of their image while journalists can disseminate relevant and reliable information to the public. This study highlights the importance of detecting the inherent nonverbal communication pattern of the interviewee. To do this, four leaders in the technology sector with great international media impact are observed: Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Sundar Pichai from Google, Tim Cook from Apple, and Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook. The methodology followed in this study is based on the systematic analysis of the nonverbal behavior of these leaders in selected audiovisual media from 2016 to 2021. The expressive channels specific to this type of communication, such as facial expression, gestural repertoire, posture, gaze, proxemics, haptics, and appearance, are taken into account. The research results show that it is feasible to identify the individual's nonverbal pattern and how it is directly related to their personal identity rather than a stereotyped pattern of behavior. It is concluded that the level of presence of the individual pattern is around 70% - 80%, which is useful in analyzing any deviation below that percentage. It has been found that when the percentage is even lower, leaders tend to adopt a more natural and emotional attitude, which can have a positive impact on their performance, particularly if they have the encouragement of the public. In addition, a comparison is made between the four leaders, where it is evident that the leader's authenticity does not follow a single learned and reproduced nonverbal pattern, with a shared nonverbal pattern being fixed at 50%. This study is presented as a valuable tool for journalists interested in analyzing the nonverbal behavior of leaders in order to prepare interviews, conduct them properly, and subsequently highlight information of journalistic interest.