Lately I’ve been attending more and more meetings with folks who practice poor public displays of facial expression.  There is one gal in particular who always looks equal parts angry and confused. You take one look at her face when she’s listening to you speak and you KNOW she thinks you are out of your mind. And she’s pissed about it.

Kind of like this, but without the monocle:

But she’s not pissed, you see.  In fact, she’s quite cheerful and genuinely happy to be there you’d just never know it by looking at her furrowed brow and pursed lips.

When you are speaking in front of her you feel judged. Like you just said pubic instead of public, or like you have food on your face. But she’s not judging you at all, she has just never had anyone tell her how odd her facial expressions are as she’s listening to others. (I’m guessing)

I, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. My brows are nearly always arched, like I just heard a loud noise or am surprised by something.  I subconsciously do this (just like I tilt my head to the right when I type) and it freaks people out. I’ve really worked hard to train my tiny face and easily excited brows how to behave during meetings.

We are often instructed not to cross our arms or look at our watch in meetings, interviews, etc. Why doesn’t anyone ever talk about our eyebrows? The eyes are the window to the soul — not the arms. What are your brows saying about you?

People and colleagues want to look at you and feel respected. Your face should *say* that your brain is fully present in the moment and not thinking lime green soooo not her color. They want know you are listening, not judging. Do they?