A Mexican corporate affairs manager spends the weekend before a big London pitch working through a business masterclass online. Lesson four says that holding eye contact is the single biggest signal of trust one can send.

He walks into the meeting and does exactly that. Steady gaze, no breaking away, right through the whole pitch.

Twenty minutes in, his British counterpart has shifted in his seat three times and started looking at his notes more than the slide deck. The deal doesn't close that day.

The situation

From the corporate affairs manager's side, he nailed it. Every course and workshop he's ever attended, plus his experience working in English with the United States, say the same thing: hold the gaze, it reads as confident, honest, and in control. He walked out of the meeting feeling like he'd delivered his best pitch yet.

From the British counterpart's side, something felt off almost immediately, though he couldn't have named what. To him, a stranger holding his eye that steadily, that long, read as pressure, not honesty. He found himself wanting more distance, not less.

Neither of them thought the meeting had gone badly for the same reason. One thought he'd built trust. The other just wanted the conversation to end.

The friction