Welcome to episode 38 of The Executive Edge with this week’s guest Alan Stevens. Alan is a profiling specialist. Based in Australia, he has been working with individuals and business for years.

His approach is to help people recognise the value of being able to ‘read’ other people. This includes their facial expressions, ingrained habits of behaviour, and how their body language indicates their mood. He feels this has value both in understanding what people need, instructing them when asking for work to be completed, and in sales.

How does this work?

Alan has worked with Gillette, Disney, and many other businesses. He’s helped them see how this skill can enhance the way teams work together, executives cascade messages through their company, and how the way people approach things can be altered. In fact, all types of relationships can benefit from this, even marriages and siblings. He describes how he helped one couple know how to handle their son better, who although young at the time, would grow up skilled if their approach followed his advice.

Another example is on Alan’s YouTube page where he calls a young woman out of the audience. He steps toward her and she instinctively steps back. For her, the question of personal space was important, and he knew this. So, he set her a test to illustrate to the audience how to handle her better. Stepping to the side, immediately put her in a better frame of mind, and eased the otherwise slightly intimidating stance he had adopted.

So much of life is about emotional intelligence and the skill of handling others, that this can make interesting and fascinating listening!