Though it may seem inconsequential, a handshake is in fact a serious step in intimacy. In the same manner that animals define and defend their territories, we humans develop a sense of 'ownership' for the space around us. This territory, which is but a few inches, is nonetheless a sort of 'personal space' bubble, and we react strongly if it is invaded. <br>No matter how large or small the bubble may be, in every case the physical contact involved in a handshake requires that this barrier be suspended, if only for a moment. In the manner of a drawbridge brought down to allow a knight to cross a moat and enter the castle, lowering the personal space barriers to shake hands is an act of trust, and so creates trust. In fact, a handshake can be seen as the first step in a relationship.
Olivia Fox CabaneA Fortune 500 CEO once said that when he had to choose between two candidates with similar qualifications, he gave the position to the candidate with the better handshake.
Is his reaction extreme? Perhaps, but on the other hand, consider the following study by Dr. Allen Konopacki for the Incomm Center in Chicago. A quarter was left in the coin return of a public telephone.
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An annual tradition continues as we present the responses to our Legalweek question. For 2026, it was "where are we with prompting"?
The volume and sophistication of work hitting law firm marketing departments is accelerating. That moves the burden from responding to being ready: ready with differentiated positioning, ready with competitive intelligence, ready to get a compelling pitch to the right client before a formal process even begins. That requires more sophisticated output, produced faster, by teams that are already stretched past capacity.
In categories where products are difficult to differentiate on performance, and that describes most of the AI industry today, customers do not choose on features, they choose on trust. Brand integrity, in those markets, is a material business asset.
The annals of copyright decisions could provide a reasonably representative catalog of what our culture has been up to over the past 200 years. A Feb. 3 decision from the Southern District of New York is a case in point. It involves a sex-trafficking conspiracy, Tweets attacking a troubled crypto firm, and a claimed transfer of copyright ownership through a restitution order in a criminal case, all over an undercurrent of competing First Amendment and victim-privacy concerns.
Matthew McConaughey secured eight federal trademark registrations covering his voice and iconic catchphrases in a novel legal strategy aimed at combating AI’s unauthorized use of his voice and likeness. The move signals an important evolution in the power dynamics between talent/brands and the companies providing generative AI tools.
