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Play the Part: Master Body Signals to Connect and Communicate for Business Success
Learn the secrets of great communicators, professional speakers, and C-level executives
"Gina is a maestro of public speaking! She coached me for my TED talk, and I am forever grateful to her for giving me the technical and emotional training I needed to take the stage."
--Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet
"Gina is an incredible coach who'll increase your impact when presenting in an executive setting--or any professional interaction. But she can't be everywhere, so this book is the next best thing! A must-read."
--Greg Behar, CEO of Nestle Science and Health
Every body tells a story. From the moment an actor steps on stage, an audience collectively feels whether his or her performance is authentic, forced, or over the top. Business professionals are also performers--and the workplace is their stage.
In Play the Part, executive communication consultant Gina Barnett brings the same techniques actors use to bear on all types of presentation and communication situations, from the board room to the conference stage. She reveals how the body affects our communication and thought patterns and how to align these consistently for maximum success. Featuring practical exercises, she shows you how to develop presence and become more intuitive, so you can navigate challenging communication situations with optimal results.
You worked hard to earn your title. Now it's time to play the part.
"Gina is a maestro of public speaking! She coached me for my TED talk, and I am forever grateful to her for giving me the technical and emotional training I needed to take the stage."
--Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet
"Gina is an incredible coach who'll increase your impact when presenting in an executive setting--or any professional interaction. But she can't be everywhere, so this book is the next best thing! A must-read."
--Greg Behar, CEO of Nestle Science and Health
Every body tells a story. From the moment an actor steps on stage, an audience collectively feels whether his or her performance is authentic, forced, or over the top. Business professionals are also performers--and the workplace is their stage.
In Play the Part, executive communication consultant Gina Barnett brings the same techniques actors use to bear on all types of presentation and communication situations, from the board room to the conference stage. She reveals how the body affects our communication and thought patterns and how to align these consistently for maximum success. Featuring practical exercises, she shows you how to develop presence and become more intuitive, so you can navigate challenging communication situations with optimal results.
You worked hard to earn your title. Now it's time to play the part.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 5, 2015
7 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 5, 2015
I can honestly say that this book changed my life. After reading Play the Part, by Gina Barnett, I have a newfound awareness of and appreciation for my body—what it’s capable of, the energy and power it’s holding, how it has helped me cope with negative past experiences, and how I have unintentionally been silencing, and therefore limiting, it.
Play the Part is absolutely packed with helpful information and exercises to undo bad physical habits or begin new good ones. However, Barnett says right from the start that the point of this book isn’t to teach people to pretend or act. Instead, she says her aim is to show people how to change whatever quirky mannerisms might be preventing them from connecting with others. It’s about becoming aware of your body, listening to it, and then understanding how you come across to everyone else. Do you walk so fast that your subordinates think you are overwhelmed and hurried, even when you aren’t? Do you hold your neck incorrectly so that you might be looking up or down at your coworkers thereby communicating weakness or hostility?
And here is the most important question, the question that was basically a revelation to me: do you use your body as an instrument for play, imagination, and self-conception? We are physical beings. We are made to feel and then express. But many of us, myself included, have been told over and over again to keep emotion hidden, to not ask questions or break routine. Over time, this strict and limiting attitude manifests itself in us physically. What isn’t expressed verbally gets expressed physically. For example, a woman who was silenced as a child might stop opening her mouth up wide enough to be heard clearly, thereby coming across in the workplace as unfocused, lazy, or just not “management material.” Or a man might rapidly bounce his knee, making coworkers think he is impatient or irritated with them, when really he might just feel anxious. Basically, our bodies show the limitations we feel on the inside—whether we are conscious of them or not.
In my case, I have always been a feeler, a ponderer (sometimes annoyingly so, I admit), but, as a child, I was constantly criticized for sharing my thoughts, feelings, and questions out loud. Before I read this book, I thought I had let go of many of those negative past experiences and had silenced that overly critical voice inherited from my parents. But I realize now that I still hold their judging voices in my head and that that judgment manifests itself physically in some of my mannerisms. For example, I clench my jaw and grind my teeth when I feel like my feelings aren’t being heard, and I sometimes slump my shoulders forward when I anticipate being criticized, almost like I want to be invisible. I also feel real dumb real fast when put in a situation where I’m asked to be spontaneous or playful. I’m quiet by nature, yes, but sometimes I am too afraid of embarrassing myself to just let go and have fun.
Thankfully, while reading this book and doing the (many) exercises provided, I was able to open myself up a bit more, to give myself permission to make silly sounds and do weird mouth exercises and pretend to walk like someone else. I felt self-conscious at first (even though I was by myself!) and then I thought, why the hell not? I went with it, and it was actually and genuinely liberating.
I think, above all, that is what I loved most about Play the Part: Barnett encourages her readers to take it all in and let it all out. Experience it. Feel it. Express it. Life is short, you know? It may take focus and attention to change the quirky physical habits you’ve spent the last few decades “perfecting”—and she’s here to help you undo them!—but the fulfillment experienced by, as she says, “removing those blocks that prevent you from connecting” is worth it.
See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com!
Play the Part is absolutely packed with helpful information and exercises to undo bad physical habits or begin new good ones. However, Barnett says right from the start that the point of this book isn’t to teach people to pretend or act. Instead, she says her aim is to show people how to change whatever quirky mannerisms might be preventing them from connecting with others. It’s about becoming aware of your body, listening to it, and then understanding how you come across to everyone else. Do you walk so fast that your subordinates think you are overwhelmed and hurried, even when you aren’t? Do you hold your neck incorrectly so that you might be looking up or down at your coworkers thereby communicating weakness or hostility?
And here is the most important question, the question that was basically a revelation to me: do you use your body as an instrument for play, imagination, and self-conception? We are physical beings. We are made to feel and then express. But many of us, myself included, have been told over and over again to keep emotion hidden, to not ask questions or break routine. Over time, this strict and limiting attitude manifests itself in us physically. What isn’t expressed verbally gets expressed physically. For example, a woman who was silenced as a child might stop opening her mouth up wide enough to be heard clearly, thereby coming across in the workplace as unfocused, lazy, or just not “management material.” Or a man might rapidly bounce his knee, making coworkers think he is impatient or irritated with them, when really he might just feel anxious. Basically, our bodies show the limitations we feel on the inside—whether we are conscious of them or not.
In my case, I have always been a feeler, a ponderer (sometimes annoyingly so, I admit), but, as a child, I was constantly criticized for sharing my thoughts, feelings, and questions out loud. Before I read this book, I thought I had let go of many of those negative past experiences and had silenced that overly critical voice inherited from my parents. But I realize now that I still hold their judging voices in my head and that that judgment manifests itself physically in some of my mannerisms. For example, I clench my jaw and grind my teeth when I feel like my feelings aren’t being heard, and I sometimes slump my shoulders forward when I anticipate being criticized, almost like I want to be invisible. I also feel real dumb real fast when put in a situation where I’m asked to be spontaneous or playful. I’m quiet by nature, yes, but sometimes I am too afraid of embarrassing myself to just let go and have fun.
Thankfully, while reading this book and doing the (many) exercises provided, I was able to open myself up a bit more, to give myself permission to make silly sounds and do weird mouth exercises and pretend to walk like someone else. I felt self-conscious at first (even though I was by myself!) and then I thought, why the hell not? I went with it, and it was actually and genuinely liberating.
I think, above all, that is what I loved most about Play the Part: Barnett encourages her readers to take it all in and let it all out. Experience it. Feel it. Express it. Life is short, you know? It may take focus and attention to change the quirky physical habits you’ve spent the last few decades “perfecting”—and she’s here to help you undo them!—but the fulfillment experienced by, as she says, “removing those blocks that prevent you from connecting” is worth it.
See more of my reviews at www.BugBugBooks.com!
August 29, 2015
Are you truly making the most of what you say or do? Maybe you are letting yourself down with the manner in which you communicate? Maybe this book will help you play the part better!
Improving how you communicate is the author’s goal, enhancing the invisible, subconscious messages you may pass on through your body language as well as your general stature, appearance and whole being. Whether in a one-to-one meeting or standing on a stage in front of thousands of people, the author believes that real change is quite possible.
If you have read books about body language, public speaking and related subjects in the past you might not find this to be a totally revolutionary book, yet it manages to package a lot of interesting points together to make it a complimentary read, building upon and refining your existing knowledge. A number of practical exercises are included which the author believes will help the reader improve and articulate their performance. It need be no different to playing a music instrument: many people can play an instrument, but not so many are capable of playing within an orchestra at a concert level. The core aim is to make the reader shine, whether if they are “speaking” as part of the orchestra or taking a solo role.
The book is written primarily in a narrative, first person-type style and it didn’t work so well for this reader. Different strokes for different folks, but it just made the whole reading interaction more stilted, less accessible and at times a bit of a chore. Greater internal signposting could have been used, along with an index (one was not, in any case, present in this review copy) so that a stressed executive who knows they saw something about reading an autocue confidently could perhaps find the exact page and remind themselves of the tip as a last minute aide memoire.
Even though it did not work for this reviewer on the whole, it wasn’t a wasted read. It just felt it could have been even better and more focussed; it could have been an excellent book rather than an average or quite good book. Your views may vary: at the very least you should check it out and see if you can form a connection with it.
Play the Part, written by Gina Barnett and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071835480. YYY
Autamme.com
Improving how you communicate is the author’s goal, enhancing the invisible, subconscious messages you may pass on through your body language as well as your general stature, appearance and whole being. Whether in a one-to-one meeting or standing on a stage in front of thousands of people, the author believes that real change is quite possible.
If you have read books about body language, public speaking and related subjects in the past you might not find this to be a totally revolutionary book, yet it manages to package a lot of interesting points together to make it a complimentary read, building upon and refining your existing knowledge. A number of practical exercises are included which the author believes will help the reader improve and articulate their performance. It need be no different to playing a music instrument: many people can play an instrument, but not so many are capable of playing within an orchestra at a concert level. The core aim is to make the reader shine, whether if they are “speaking” as part of the orchestra or taking a solo role.
The book is written primarily in a narrative, first person-type style and it didn’t work so well for this reader. Different strokes for different folks, but it just made the whole reading interaction more stilted, less accessible and at times a bit of a chore. Greater internal signposting could have been used, along with an index (one was not, in any case, present in this review copy) so that a stressed executive who knows they saw something about reading an autocue confidently could perhaps find the exact page and remind themselves of the tip as a last minute aide memoire.
Even though it did not work for this reviewer on the whole, it wasn’t a wasted read. It just felt it could have been even better and more focussed; it could have been an excellent book rather than an average or quite good book. Your views may vary: at the very least you should check it out and see if you can form a connection with it.
Play the Part, written by Gina Barnett and published by McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 9780071835480. YYY
Autamme.com
July 21, 2015
This book wasn't for me so I handed it over to my fellow reviewer as I often do when I come across a book I just don't like. Sometimes our opinions are very similar while other times we have drastically different opinions as was the case for this book. I could have taken a nap while someone read this to me but my reading cohort swears it's chock full of valuable resources and information that could really make a difference when you strike out on your own. She swears that it is written in a way anyone can understand it and garner tidbits that will help in everything from an interview to running your own shop. I received an ARC through Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews