This may seem like a trivial subject for a business blog but first impressions are very important. The experts say we make up our mind about whether we like a person in somewhere between 3 to 10 seconds. This is exactly the time in an encounter when a first handshake is happening so it is actually a pretty critical business issue.
I shake hands with a lot of people in my professional and volunteer life so am quite an expert in how firm a handshake needs to be to convey the impression of a confident, appealing person. There is some science to what makes a handshake a pleasant experience. The optimal business handshake strikes a balance between a forceful grip and a limp noodle. Neither extreme is pleasant – I start many meetings with an aching hand as a result of an encounter with a bone crusher. Or looking for a tissue when the offered hand is both limp and damp!
There is an easy way to test where your handshake falls on this continuum that has a self correcting mechanism built right in. Shake your own hand and assess how it feels. Cool and dry? Firm, but not painful? Now try it on someone near and dear to you – a spouse, a friend, an adult child perhaps. The goal is a great handshake that makes people want to do it again, not keep their hand in their pocket when you’re leaving – probably without the job or the order.
