BODY LANGUAGE IN THE WORKPLACE

WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET

which is the image? Donny, who for years has symbolized whole-
someness and Mom's apple pie, says what we see now, the sophisti-
cated person, is what he's been all along. He claims that the
audience has misperceived what he was.
If we can believe that, we can also believe in the Tooth Fairy.
Images and the subtexts change because the audience wants that
change. Entertainers like Osmond are well aware of the importance
of image in creating a subtext. They also know that the subtext
they create clings to them. The audience usually believes that
the role matches the performer's personality. They believe that
the subtext is real.
In the workplace, you can apply the truths learned by entertain-
ers, politicians, television executives, and others in the business
of image projection. Sometimes the clothes—and hair, and facial
expression—do make the man. Simon Jones, the well-known En-
glish actor who appeared as Bridie in "Brideshead Revisited,"
noted that during the filming of the series the crew "tended to
treat the actors who were playing aristocrats with far greater respect
than those playing servants." He also has noticed that "if you're
playing a clergyman, the cast and crew have a tendency to avoid
swearing."

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

A strong link exists between your ability to "act" a certain way
and the subtext you send out to the world. A successful businessman
told me, "I choose my clothes each day depending on the way I
feel. When I'm low, for one reason or another, and I feel I'm
going to have a hard of a time of it, I'll wear something upbeat,
a tie with a little life to it, one of my brighter shirts. I try to
perk up my image."