Vanessa Van Edwards breaks down how physical distance and eye contact signal power and competence. Powerful people look directly at listeners when finishing sentences. If you can't adjust distance, swap in other competence cues to project authority.
This distance is— I would categorize it as a confidence or competence cue. Competence is signaling reliability, efficacy, capability, power. So the space is a competence cue. I would categorize it as that. There are many competence cues you can choose from. So if you have a shorter neck, you could just choose another competence cue, such as making eye contact at the end of a sentence. So typically powerful people make very specific eye contact patterns, and they signal to you their power and confidence with those eye contact patterns. If you're processing and talking, you don't have to make eye contact, but then if I want to deliver at the very end, I can deliver right to you. And that feels so much more competent. I like it, right? I said nothing. I just said nothing, but like, boy, did it feel good. It felt good to you and to them. Yeah.
