Isn't this the premise of those Twix commercials? "Chew it over," and all that...

Just find it kind of funny that we have candy commercials giving out social advice.

HeartBurnKid

The same thing used to be done with cigarettes, cigars and pipes.
Light up for a long delay, take a drag for the short ones... and no one thought it was rude.

KenGirard

hmm..sounds rude to me, and i would get up and re-schedule.

holymogwai

One of my professors referred to this as his "Safety Coke". Not quite as effective after he told us that every time he took a drink it meant he didn't really know how to answer a question.

brackenthebox

We have a douchey VP at my little startup who does this, and it rang indelibly false and pretentious. He was giving his "this is who I am" talk to the whole company (of 30) when he was hired. It was catered (Rubios), and he just kept taking these "pensive" pauses while 30 people watched him shove nacho chips in his maw.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this method :)

(Unless you bleed genuineness that could defeat this)

leefur

I could see this working with a water bottle. Water bottles are generally acceptable in meetings, so taking a swig to think something over wouldn't be obtrusive.

Amalas

Ridiculous. Is it a slow day? Why is this even on Lifehacker?

Nealjs

I would find it unusual that a senior manager would choose to eat in the middle of a meeting. If I were on equal footing, I would probably request that he finish his meal before we continue the meeting. Must be a cultural thing. In which cultures is eating a sandwich during a meeting considered acceptable?

dotancohen

Bill Lumburgh would be proud.

... yeaaah.

Honus

I've heard of this as a job interviewing tip. When you go in for an interview, they will often offer you a drink -- at least water. I read to ALWAYS take the water, for two reasons. One, it lets you pause and think about your answer. Two, people who TAKE the water are remembered a little bit more.

sceo

The "smell the fart" technique.

(Please, someone be there with me.)

Ms. Pants

For my next meeting I'm bringing a big fat bowl of potato chips.

"Sir, do you realize our company has been in the red since you started here?"

"CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH"

"How do you intent reverse the tidal wave of class action suits against us that you are directly responsible for?"

"CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH"

iain010100

My company holds lunchtime meetings all the time. Which I greatly resent because I much prefer to leave the building for lunch by myself. I *need* to get away for my sanity. But it's a convenient way to wring a little more work out of us.

Rhywun

I would bring in a bowl of Kellogg's Crunch for this technique, and sit happily crunching as the kudos rolled in.

"Brilliant, Johnson! Brilliant!"

jaxun

@sceo - Agreed, definitely pick water. The lunch can be the most important part of the interview, huh? There's a great comment on the original article over at WWD on using the drive over to lunch too. Take a gander.

@Honus - There's a little Lumburgh in every executive, isn't there? The one in my story is more reasonable than most, believe me.

Pete Johnson
HP.com Chief Architect
Personal blog: [nerdguru.net]

NerdGuru

@Ms.Pants - I got the reference!

on a side note, i don't really think this would be appropriate, at least in the company I work for. Drinking, maybe... but the 'strategically placed pauses' would definitely be noticed...

ew

Kaltec

I find it a bit disturbing that it isn't acceptable to take the time to think before giving an answer.

Studio717

@jaxun: No- it has to that Raisin Bran Crunch, or w/e cereal is in that commercial with the guy crunching away, oblivious to the ass-reaming he's getting.

gorckat

Man, this post is full of labored constructions. I can barely understand it. He eats while thinking of his answer? And his workers respect him more? Did I get it?

scarabic

Or, you could develop social skills and the self-confidence required to take a 10 second pause without crumbling beneath the fear of rejection.

...isn't this an ad campaign for Twix?

TheMelange

A pipe gives a wise man time to think, and a fool something to stick in his mouth.

If you need that much time to think during a business meeting, you have clearly failed to prepare. It's just business, either you know the answer or you don't. A meeting like the one in the article isn't exactly hostile takeover planning.

Hosalabad

I think this is great. One of the reasons people have populated (polluted?) their speech with "y'know" "um" "like" and ... well.. the like... is because they're using these words as verbal placeholders.

They don't really know what they're going to say next but as long as they're saying, "ummmmm...." some small part of their brain can go in search of a point and the speaker is -- if properly polite -- disinclined to take over the conversation.

This technique allows the speaker of the question full time to ask their question without need to resort to these verbal tics -- obviously, someone sipping or biting is not likely to interrupt.

Of course, if people merely thought about what they were going to say, we'd probably hear less of these bits of flotsom, too. But this is a start.

gyffes

+ Watch video

spaceman7

This might be the dumbest tip ever posted on LH. Ever!

backbaydk

I found that if you simply tell a person to hold on a second, that you wish to phrase the answer correctly, then they will respect you more. It shows that you are truly thinking on the answer, rather than just blurting things out (right or wrong).

Duane

this tip is not worthy of LH...

it's actually rude and strange. If I were the boss, I would right away even sense that it's a dumb technique to stall and give him/her less credibility.

qrius

I could picture the boss at Dunder Mifflin playing on this (The Office). And I can picture it to be quite annoying and a little funny.

Bob Brown

Funny, I've always wondered why i have so many thoughts in my mind.

Just kidding.

I agree with the others, this isn't really a tip.

thelastdestroyer

I'm gonna guess former Senior Manager. If he needs that many pauses to think of answers, he's in over his head. If he thinks he needs to look like he knows everything, he's a fool who's in over his head. If he thinks pausing to formulate an answer is a bad thing, he's a fool who lacks critical thinking skills who's in over his head.

In case I'm not being clear, this guy is obviously in over his head.

imajoebob

Interesting, as I've heard about this technique this friday as I have to organize a Senior Executives meeting. One of the Big Boss' trick during meetings is to have cookies at hand, I found that to be weird at first but now I can start to see why. One can't always have answers to every question, a pause can help figure out a way to retaliate or change subjects.

dronnac

This is just dumb. Really.

Gener4l_Ts0