One of the things that happens when you become President of the United States, or leader of any kind of nation or organization, is that people begin to defer to you.  And they signal that deference with their body language in a whole host of subtle and not-so-subtle ways. 

One of the not-so-subtle ways was beautifully illustrated by the new Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, in a recent news conference where he sat alongside his boss.  The best view is several minutes into the video:  http://tinyurl.com/clkz9k. 

When we want to show that someone else is in charge, we keep our heads lower than the top dog’s.  And you can see Geithner doing just that as the new conference continues.  It’s amusing because Obama’s characteristic stance while sitting is to put his elbows on his knees in a ‘let’s get to work together’ pose.  That means his head is pitched lower, making it harder work to stay below him.  Geithner manages it by leaning forward and mirroring Obama’s stance, only a little more so.

Obama would make it easier on his subordinates if he sat up straight!

A subtle way in which we defer to those in power over us is that we match our low-frequency speech sounds with his or hers – literally getting in synch with the leader.  I talk more about this wild and wonderful way of showing deference in Trust Me:  Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma.  For this space, it’s enough to say that both the leader and the follower are unconscious of the matching up, but it is an important part of deferring to the top person.  We’re not sure yet to what extent we register that deference unconsciously.  More research needs to be done.