Vanessa Van Edwards explains why constant eye contact makes speakers look robotic. Confident people break eye contact while thinking, then lock in at the end of a point to seal it. Maintaining 100% eye contact while processing information is cognitively impossible, so the pauses signal authentic thinking.
Really powerful people make eye contact at the end of their point. Let me tell you, at the very end of my point, that's when it matters. You're in a meeting or presenting or you're an interviewer. That's actually what matters more is that at the end of your sentence, you're sealing it with that eye contact. We know as humans that I cannot do complex math problems while making eye contact. We can't do it. And so actually, it makes you look very thoughtful and pensive for the 40% you're not looking at me when you're gathering. Leaders do that because they're showing I'm authentically coming up with the answer. It would be very weird if you were delivering 100% eye contact because I would feel like it was scripted whenever I watch, like, Shark Tank Tank or Dragon's Den. A big mistake they make is they're so rehearsed, they don't break eye contact, and it gives you sort of a robotic feeling. So if you're practicing a presentation, you actually want to have a little bit of, like, ad lib in there. You want to be processing around because it shows you're authentically grabbing the information, and that shows competence.
