Here’s an interesting question from a student:
“Can you have a weak handshake and still be magnetic?”
For this question I’ll be considering a regular weak handshake and not an occasional weak handshake that can happen to all of us for myriad reasons (like tiredness, sickness, etc) or a regular weak handshake due to some kind of body impairment.
So, yes, you can have a regular weak handshake and still be magnetic and charismatic.
But it’s not usual.
Magnetism is not directly related to the grip of your handshake but in our society the handshake is perceived as a way to show how confident or powerful that person is.
So, particularly in business settings, leaders soon realized that their handshake is an important part of making a deal and establishing a good first impression.
Hence, they place a particular importance in this display of power.
Most magnetic people – even if unconsciously – pick up on it, and adjust their own handshake to transmit this impression. In fact, transmitting magnetism and tension energy from the handshake is something we work in the Personal Magnetism training.
Does it mean that a person with a strong handshake is always magnetic?
Of course not. Far from it. Otherwise your magnetism will surely be very easily increased!
Magnetism is much more than how strong your handshake is.
The reality is that the handshake ends up meaning very little IF you have little power and magnetism.
You can have a perfectly strong and adequate grip, yet, if you can’t hold your ground as your interaction (or negotiation) takes place, then it doesn’t matter how strong or weak your handshake was.
Your behaviors AFTER the handshake have a larger importance than the handshake in itself.
If you need to “fake” power and confidence through the handshake, then it’s not going to be very useful for you. Some people have the need to exaggerate and have real death grips who choke the hand of the poor soul who greets them. It’s usually an overcompensation for their lack of power.
Overall, you want to feel that the power you project through the handshake is on par with what you have and project through the other sources of personal magnetism, then the handshake ends up being (another) authentic way of projecting your own energy and never the ONLY way.