Sometimes, with leaders, the stakes are very high indeed. Churchill, in WWII, for example, could not afford to utter publicly his concerns about England's ability to survive Hitler's onslaught. He thought about them, but the leadership conversation sometimes needs to inspire, not voice doubt.

There are four different kinds of power in a communication: position power (the CEO talking to her direct reports), emotion power (passion sometimes rules the day), expertise (people often listen to the most knowledgeable person in the room), and conversational power (the subtlest, this is the ability to direct the conversation through body language).

Gestures come first! Before we're consciously aware of our thoughts, we start to gesture. Pay attention to your gestures, and others', and you can become a more powerful communicator.

We all need to be astute in sending and reading power cues, so that we can prevent ourselves - and the world - from being manipulated by evil geniuses like Hitler.

You have to begin by posing questions to your unconscious mind, and then listening very carefully for the answers. If you pose the right kinds of questions, and listen well, you can begin to tap into the power of your unconscious mind.

People often think of the unconscious mind as "the gut" or perhaps the Freudian "sink" of repressed sexual desires. It's neither one of those things. It's the repository of memory, and it's the seat of decision making.

Indeed, we learn far more from our mistakes than our successes.