Dear Friend
Power Signals
There are three groups of power signals, each group or range communicates a personality or character quality.
- Alpha Signals: Leadership, Dominance, Control. An Alpha will initiate action and take up space.
- Beta Signals: Competence, Credibility, Intelligence, Confidence. A person with Beta characteristics interacts and shares space.
- Gamma Signals: Friendliness, Likeability, Interpersonal Attractiveness. A Gamma will respond and give up space.
Now an average person displays varying degrees of each trait depending on their situation – although anyone hovering near one extreme or another will become an extreme person. In other words, if you always act as an Alpha then you become a bully... act only as a Beta, you seem cold and uncaring (think of Mr. Spock)... act only Gamma and you’ll be sickeningly submissive.
So yes, there is a time and a place for each of the three. For example, most people will veer heavily Gamma when pulled over by a cop, (“yes sir... you look very handsome in your blue uniform this evening, sir”). In that scenario, acting too alpha may just land you in jail – or at least a more expensive ticket.
On the other hand a college student speaking to his professor would most likely act in the Beta range as he exchanges ideas and opinions. But make no mistake; the student ultimately acknowledges on some level that the professor is still the bossman.
Now, let’s say you are a platoon leader in the heat of combat... a top-cop planning a raid on a heavily armed dope house... the top-ranking fireman on the scene of a 5-alarm blaze... or even an owner of a car dealership leading a group of sales people. In such situations you must demand complete obedience and respect from your subordinates. This isn’t some kind of macho game – you must act powerfully, almost larger than life, or the consequences can be unimaginable. Bankruptcy... loss of property... people hurt or killed. There is no room for a Gamma in these positions (“c’mon guys, pleeease go attack that machine gun nest. C’mon, pretty pleeeease”).
People who are unable or unwilling to display Alpha signals in such situations are rarely able to rise to levels of great responsibility and power. And if they are thrust into that position they must either adapt to the Alpha role or will not have the respect they need to lead people effectively.
So when it’s all boiled down, there are 3 ways you can send (encode) your nonverbal information.
- Passive encoding: nonverbal signals that are unconscious. You are unaware of the non-verbal signals you are sending.
- Active encoding: nonverbal signals that are consciously sent. You are aware of your non-verbal body language and that others are reading it.
- Goal oriented encoding: This is your goal -- to use nonverbal signals deliberately and strategically in order to produce a desired outcome. Goal oriented encoding is also known as “Power Signals.”
Now it’s important to understand that most of us are capable of portraying any of the three ranges at any point in time. This knowledge can yield powerful results for you. It means you are, essentially, like an actor putting on an appropriate display of body language to achieve a particular reaction from others. There are four ways of achieving this... Physical Presence... Expressions... Gestures... and Sound. In my next set of tips I'll start to examine all four.
"If you look like a rabbit, and act like a rabbit, you will be treated like a rabbit — Prey for all predators."
— Stony Brook
Til next time...
Bob Pierce
Head Honcho, TRS/FightFast
P.S. I've got an amazing fight system set up for you on DVD. The history of this system - all passed down by word of mouth, for generations - is staggering: During the Civil War, prisons put captured black slaves (who tried to escape the South) into jail cells with two or three white prisoners... whose job was to kill the black man.
Except, one time, it was the white prisoners who were found dead the next morning. So more, bigger, and nastier white prisoners were assigned to that cell. And the next morning, all were dead.
This one, lone black slave had come up with a simple fighting system that is now called "Ghetto Blocks". It became the secret system taught to certain other black prisoners, who became protectors of their gangs.
You MUST read this story... it will blow your mind.