Kevin Gets the Stiff Arm Treatment

For the past couple of weeks the Australian media has been fixated on an incident that allegedly took place a couple of weeks ago at Kirribilli House, the official residence of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

The story goes that while entertaining some guests at an evening function, Kevin received a phone call from President George Bush. The call apparently dealt with the world financial crisis … well so far so good … what else was there to talk about you might ask.  After all, these are the sort of chats one expects world leaders to have.

Where it all got a bit messy was when, according to a newspaper report in The Australian, Kevin had to explain to George what the G-20 is/are. We hope the PM was able to assist, although presumably the President could have found out by going to the official G-20 website which we’ve linked here for your reading pleasure. But back to the Presidential inquiry.  If the allegation is true, it makes Kevin look a lot better informed than George when it comes to world affairs. What’s germane to this whole business is not necessarily the content of the call … although if true, it does confirm some widely held suspicions … but what happened afterwards: the content of the call was leaked. That bit of the conversation has since been hotly denied on both sides … but the damage had been done.

So more than a few eyes and a lot of lenses were on the meeting this past weekend between the two leaders in the US, the first since that call. Judging by the TV and press photographs and the commentary of journalists present, the White House reception afforded the Australian Prime Minister by President Bush was ‘cool.’ How did they know? The President’s body language and facial expression said it all.

The signals sent out by George Bush were distinctly unfriendly. The smile was forced and thin, the handshake distant, and the greeting brief. Compare this with the effusive gestures and lengthy greetings given other world leaders. By comparison, the Australian Prime Minister’s welcome was almost perfunctory. Despite the friendly Prime Ministerial hand on the Presidential back, there was almost no responding head turn and smile from George, just a resolute march forward, with Kevin trailing behind.

This was a potent reminder of the importance of non-verbal communication. Even at the highest level, perhaps particularly at the highest level, it’s vital to be aware of the impression given through one’s posture, gesture, facial expression and spatial awareness. All good relationships, whether international or not, are based on trust, and that trust is eloquently transmitted through our body language and general demeanour.

You can be sure the beady eyes of the media saw it! They were keen to pounce on the ’salute’ the PM gave the President last year at a NATO meeting in Bucharest. You can read all about that little body-language storm in a teacup in the article below.

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