The Devil Wears Prada and Alan Greenspan: Nuance and Silence

Charmaine and

ca 1988 Your Business Blogger once sat near Alan Greenspan with his hot decade-long date, Andrea Mitchell in the President’s Box in the Kennedy Center. He didn’t say three words all evening.

Not a snub; but simply silence. Alpha Male silence.

Some called Greenspan circumspect. All I heard was silence.

George Will reported on his marriage proposal to Andrea. She said that Greenspan had to repeat his marriage proposal three times before she understood what he was getting at.

Subtlety. Silence.

I was once coached by a headhunter. To keep my mouth shut. To use silence. The recruiter instructed me to use silence as a tool.

Silence…

…[1,001; 1,002; 1,003; 1,004]…

…commands attention.

A confident quiet, ….of four seconds…

commands.

Economy of words. Economy of movement. The subtle seen in the movie The Devil Wears Prada by Miranda Priestly. Meryl Streep acting out Anne Wintour the former editor of Vogue Magazine.

The Devil Wears Prada Charmaine and I previewed the movie for our girls. Meryl/Anne was perfect.

Vogue MagazineCommanding leadership that was understated. And sociopathic.

Meryl Streep expressing disapproval would (barely) purse her lips. An eyebrow raised a millimeter.

An inverse ratio: Small movements/Big command.

So. If you want to command and communicate. Be quiet. Be still.

Nuance and Silence.

PS I didn’t get the job, although it was not the headhunter’s fault. Your Business Blogger is such a slow learner…

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Full Disclosure: Charmaine once made the pages of Vogue. Described Fully Dressed.

Dream Logic has Maureen Dowd link.

Redux has YouTube clip.