Want to get ahead – find someone to walk in step with you

Not metaphorically. You need to find someone who will synchronize their gait with you and put one foot in front of the other, so they walk in time with you.

“We walk straight, so you better get out the way, or we’ll kick you out the way”

This happy little mantra, is a childhood ditty. I remember being arm in arm with friends and proclaiming my invincibility. It is sincerely doubtful, that three little girls, would have frightened anything in their path.

But the strategy was highly effective.

Researchers from the University of California have discovered – walking together is a POWER move.

Military manoeuvres

Of course, the military have known marching in step, means POWER.

Let’s face it, watching a military parade is intimidating. One is both scared and impressed, simultaneously. The human brain, instinctively knows – this is not natural. It is a co-ordinated effort. These guys mean business.

The logical conclusion following such a nerve-racking display……………… don’t mess with the band of marching men.

But, the research team discovered there is more to the story.

Marching men are empowered

It turns out, that the very act of marching in unison with others, is self empowering.

The team enlisted 96 college students, all men, and gave them marching orders.

Half the students, marched in unison with an experimenter, round an 800 m track to a “testing” station. The other half of the students, just made their way in an uncoordinated fashion along the same track, to the “testing” station.

At the testing station – they were tested.

Testing time

To keep things interesting – they had to perform multiple tasks, but the “test” that was important was a perception test.

The students were required to evaluate the “threat” posed by an aggressive looking individual. To quantify, the “threat” level, the participants were

Asked to estimate his height
Pick out his silhouette. They were presented with 6 silhouettes, ranging from skinny to butch.

Marching to victory

The students that arrived in step, with the experimenter, saw the aggressive individual as less intimidating, judging him to be a whole inch shorter, than the students who arrived “however”.

So what ?

If a two man marching band, lobs off an inch. Imagine what a 10 man marching band could do.