Learn more about Michael Wenderoth, Executive Coach: www.changwenderoth.com
** Watch to see Susan read Michael’s face, HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@97PercentEffective **
You’ll love or hate today’s guest, Susan Ibitz, who boldly says: “I’m the only person in the world who does what I do.” Dubbed “freaky” and “the top expert in her field” by the Chicago Tribune and Pyschology Today, Susan draws on physiognomy, micro-expressions, and body language – practices often accused of shaky pseudoscience -- to profile and read people. A former political influence consultant, profiler, and civilian hostage negotiator, she’s helped top law firms select high-stakes juries, coached Shark Tank’s fastest deal-closer, and advised everyone from television producers to sales reps on how to “hack” human behaviour to get results. But here’s the question: Can she really profile anyone in just 90 seconds? Is her ability a legitimate superpower … or something else? You decide. In this episode of 97% Effective, watch as she turns her methods on host Michael Wenderoth, and then listen as they discuss her background and training, the art and science of her craft, and the myths that swirl around in her field.
SHOW NOTES:
- Susan profiles Michael – in 90 seconds
- The breakdown: What Michael’s flat forehead, neanderthal bump eyebrows, resting face, upper eyelids, the four quadrants of his mouth, bigger ears and earlobes, hair… all say about his personality
- Are facial features universal across gender, race, culture, age?
- A short history: how face reading got incorrectly associated with phrenology (reading the shape of the head), Mengele and the Nazis
- Studying under Paul Ekman and the problem with microexpressions
- How face reading catapulted Susan’s career
- Michael challenges Susan: What was her confidence level that she read him correctly?
- Top reasons why a face profiler can be wrong: Normalization, fighting the process, being too tired, and confirmation bias
- Why listening to someone’s voice and tone is critical – lessons from hostage negotiations
- How Susan’s Dyslexia and Aspergers enhances her skills to read context and people
- Diagnosing vs Profiling and reading people’s tendencies
- Thinking in terms of percentages and propensities
- “Assessments are not tests”
- Susan is not for everyone: Are you open to change?
- The bad apple effect
- The top things organizations don’t pay attention to: The importance of stepping away (because you can be the problem), and that people are not always in the positions they need to be (so reallocate them)
- A critique of “thin slicing”
- 41 Shots and the importance of never assuming you are right 100% of the time
- Susan busts 3 myths: 1) That using the number 3 means you are lying, 2) That 93% of your communication is body language, and 3) That “mirroring” will make people instantly love you
- The way you say things is 30% more persuasive than anything you can do with your body
- How to protect yourself from being persuaded – or conned
- Con artists play with your ego; narcissists and pyschopaths go after people who are highly intelligent
- When ego gets in the way and we become victims because we are too cocky
- When it smells, looks and tastes like poo poo, it’s _______.
- The guts are your first brain: you can smell fear
- “Always doubt”
- Susan on AI vs humans: her record vs Big Blue, and how AI can make you dumber
- How one of Susan’s students outperformed AI to solve a murder mystery
- Too many tik tok’ers, not enough plumbers
- Lightning round: Susan’s biggest influences; Favorite Sci-fi movie; Her drink of choice
BIO AND LINKS:
Susan Ibitz is a former political influence consultant, profiler, and civilian hostage negotiator, with expertise, study and degrees in Human Behavior, Behavioral Economics, Neuroscience – with a deep nerd-like love for data. From physiognomy to micro-expression and body language, she incorporates numerous forms of studying human behavior to “hack” each person’s personality traits. She uses that skill and experience to “works on the humans that grow your business,” offering her expertise to television producers to sales trainers to the FBI, to now the general public. Past engagements have included work with the U.S. Navy, Harvard University, and the Secret Service.
- Watch Susan read Michael’s face -- on the 97% Effective video channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/@97PercentEffective
- Susan Ibitz Behavior Consulting: SusanIbitz.com
- Susan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-ibitz/
- ENOUGH PLEASE! Susan’s article: ‘93% of communication is driven by body language’ is NOT what Mehrabian said: https://tinyurl.com/356sjkww
- Paul Ekman and the study of emotions and their relation to facial expressions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ekman
- Reprint of profile of Susan in the Chicago Tribune: https://tinyurl.com/4aj65fbt
- “How to make questions to get the answers you need”: https://tinyurl.com/ywxwctfk
- Thin-slicing, featured in Blink (Malcolm Gladwell): https://tinyurl.com/2ws268aa
- 41 shots: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Skin_(41_Shots)
- Book by Gavin De Becker - The Gift of Fear: https://a.co/d/b6jvWVm
- Michael’s Award-Winning book, Get Promoted: What You’re Really Missing at Work That’s Holding You Back https://tinyurl.com/453txk74
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