“While a dog has a master, a cat has a servant.”
This metaphor of using cats and dogs as synonyms for personality traits is a useful instrument to quickly understand what kind of people we are dealing with in our daily conversations. This helps to tune in and to adjust our behaviors. It also helps to understand what to do in a presentation or speech to being perceived as trustworthy, intelligent, and credible. These attributes are essential in any conversation when it comes to relationship building.
Cats tend to have a ‘credible’ persona – authoritative demeanor, flat-toned voice tone that curls down at the end, body language calm and still – and tend to command immediate attention.
Dogs have a more ‘approachable’ style – a more friendly demeanor. Dogs smile and nod more, use open palms when speaking and their voice pattern is lilting and curls up at the end.
We all have access to both these sets of qualities, but knowing how and when to use them is an important issue. A charismatic person is said to be able to switch between both types of personalities, according to Michael Grinder. And who of us does not like to be charismatic in some way?
