Stop smiling! People don't trust a smiling woman.

I remember attending a presentation course with a colleague of mine. We were supposed to give each other feedback and I was sitting and watching my colleague present, when I suddenly knew what was wrong with her. Why I didn't believe a word she said, why she gave me a feeling of not being sure, why she looked awkward. She was smiling!

I told her to try not to smile and lean her head when talking. I'm pretty sure she thought my comment was intrusive, but she improved her performance a lot when she stopped smiling all the time. Suddenly one could trust her...

Now I'm watching the woman who is trying to become Sweden's first female statsminister on TV. I bet she won't ever become a minister, because people hate her. I don't know why people hate her, but I know why I instinctively don't like her. When she answers a question she smiles. It looks like a mean smile to me. She looks like "you just made my day by asking a question to which I have prepared a really good answer". If she looks like that, it doesn't matter what she is saying.

Smiling is not always such a good thing, and in the wrong context it can be absolutely devastating!