Does acting help you project power?

For some clues to answering that question, read these installments about an acting class taught at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Topics range from storytelling to playing high and low. From "Acting Class Helps Students Project Power" (Stanford Alumni Magazine):

MBA students who thought an acting class would teach them how to charm their way through tense business situations were set straight the first day of a spring quarter elective at the Graduate School of Business. “Acting with power isn’t pretending or putting on a performance but bringing truth to a role,” said Professor Deborah Gruenfeld, who studies the psychology of power and powerlessness.
 
In the Acting With Power course students tried being meek, authoritative, approachable, aloof, snotty, or gracious as they applied various acting techniques to scenarios. "The tendency is for actors to think it’s all about them, but acting is really about the other person on the stage," said drama lecturer Kay Kostopoulos. "Actors need to listen to each other carefully in order to pick up cues, some verbal, some not. It’s no different in the business world."

Click to follow along as the class unfolded.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/sbsm2010/sbsm1005actingpower.html

Comments

[Anne Roberts]

It's just like owning it. If you are confident, you are projecting power. I think it shouldn't come off as an act. If so, you are faking it. But if you have confidence, it will come naturally.