Former FBI Agent: If They Do This Please RUN! Narcissists Favourite Trick To Control You!

Joe Navarro walks Steven Bartlett through what a quarter-century of catching spies and interrogating enemies taught him about human behavior. He explains how tiny nonverbal cues (a shaking cigarette, the way someone carries flowers) betray deception, and how the face, lips, neck and hands broadcast comfort and discomfort. The conversation turns practical for business: how to negotiate by controlling time and seating, how to project a 'command voice', how confidence is trained one small competence at a time, and how creating 'psychological comfort' is the most powerful human skill. Navarro also breaks down narcissists and dangerous personalities, advising listeners to recognize the traits and get out. He closes reflecting on the emotional toll of the work and the value of genuine human connection in a screen-dominated age.

• Identified spy Rod Ramsey as suspicious because his cigarette shook twice when a key name was mentioned, launching a 10-year investigation.
  00:15:09
• Says the Ramsey/Conrad case was the most damaging espionage case in US history, compromising NATO nuclear go codes in Germany.
  00:18:17
• A general testified that had war broken out, the defeat of the West would have been assured within 3 days because of the leak.
  00:20:53
• Caught a deep-cover 'illegal' agent because he carried a flower bouquet pointing down (Eastern European style) rather than up.
  00:23:28
• Admits he secretly shaved inches off the suspect's couch so he always sat physically higher during 37 interviews.
  01:12:13
• Reveals confidence can be trained by mastering one small thing first, then building outward.
  01:33:32
• States that while narcissists are ~2% of the population, as many as 22% of CEOs have narcissistic traits.
  02:02:32
• Confesses he is still in pain decades later over being on duty the night a girl was abducted by a serial killer.
  02:13:24

• Humans cover their mouths when shocked as an evolved reflex to avoid broadcasting breath to predators.
  00:03:08
• Harvard's 'thin slice' research shows we assess each other accurately in as little as 3 milliseconds, right ~75% of the time.
  00:33:28
• Babies in utero adapt to their mother's language, so German and French newborns cry with different lilts.
  00:36:04
• The 'still face' experiment shows holding a frozen expression makes you perceived as a threat and untrustworthy.
  01:04:19
• The Stockholm syndrome formed fast because robbers became the parental 'archetype' and hostages became childlike.
  01:08:32
• The 'height dividend': people 6'2" are ~3% of the population but ~39% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
  01:15:50
• Velcro was invented by a Swiss man who observed under a microscope that plant burrs on his socks were curved.
  01:54:37
• Steve Jobs grew Apple's market share by selling 'psychological comfort' when people were genuinely afraid of computers.
  01:59:22
• The brain retains negative experiences via the hippocampi, which is why there's no pill for post-traumatic stress.
  02:14:26
• The suprasternal (neck) notch is the body's most vulnerable point; touching it signals weakness in negotiations.
  00:51:18

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