The Hug

I am a huge fan of the hug. I’ve been a huge fan for a long while.

The hand shake is a nice way of greeting people – especially ones you’ve never met. Bill Clinton innovated by making sure he used his other hand to touch people on the elbow making it a touch more personal. The hand shake is safe and that’s its greatest strength.

The hug, on the other hand, is unsafe. It’s the sort of betrayals that came with the hug that gave birth to the phrase “being stabbed in the back.” The hug is a wonderful show of love and trust in any relationship simply because it requires us to be vulnerable for those few seconds as we give ourselves completely to them.

The hug will never be the norm in politics or business – both low trust environments. But, in our personal lives, let’s remember to hug away!

And when we hug, let’s make sure we give what I call a “full on” hug i.e. a tight frontal embrace – anything less than this doesn’t qualify.

And guys, just hug already. Macho doesn’t build great relationships.. affection sure does.