236 I Can Read You Like a Book
your boss’s office when she invites you to step around the barrier
and review her slide presentation. Suddenly, you are on the same
side. As an interrogator, when I walk from behind the desk and
close the space with a source, he never feels relaxed and thank-
ful. The barrier provides a layer of protection for him. Context
counts for so much in both understanding and manipulating
body language—especially with barriers.Illustrators
No one enjoys being brow-beaten during a conversation. Those
Bill O’Reilly eyebrows or the wagging finger of Sister Mary Obedi-
ence cause a range of negative responses from “Go away” to “I’d
like to have you hauled off to the landfill.”
Careful use of illustrators can repel or attract. When Hillary
Clinton is “on cause” and uses her hands in an uplifting manner,
brows raised and passionately talking about entitlement, she brings
the crowd toward her. Open, positive use of illustrators get the job
done. When she is on target against Donald Rumsfeld, her illustra-
tors become whipping motions with her hand, brow-beating with
hands instead of her eyebrows. These are repelling instruments.
The key becomes a question of, what are you trying to do?
Connect or repel? Sometimes, you have to repel to get someone to
bring himself closer to you.