How wide is your smile? How deep is your frown?

I'm reading Daniel Goleman's new book 'Social Intelligence'. It's a companion to his bestseller 'Emotional Intelligence' and promises to go into the whys and wherefores of social interaction from a scientific point of view.

I'm a couple of chapters in and so far I'm intrigued. He says that a test of how much you get on with someone is to look at how much your body language imitates each others unconsciously as you talk. If you put a whole lot of energy and expression into telling a story and get only half as much back, you're not connecting as well as if your partner gives you what you're giving them.

What do you think of this? If a small group of people is gathered with no purpose or leader designated, the tone and sense of leadership will be set by the person with the most expressive face.

Much of the research he's discussing tallies in with the thoughts from Quiet Leadership as well as the Relationship Development Intervention (RDI) material we're going through to work with our Autistic Spectrum son.

God made us very complex little beasts.