What Chuck Todd Taught Me about the Power of a Handshake

We’ve all heard the utter importance making a first impression can have on any relationship, whether it be professional or personal, and it’s become pretty common knowledge to greet someone you meet for the first time by firmly shaking their hand. And while I hate to judge someone solely on how well they shake my hand, I’ve inevitably noticed that my ultimate impression of someone I just met can quickly go sour following a poor handshake.

While everyone has different preferences and expectations when they shake someone’s hand, I personally expect a firm (but not too firm) grip that lasts about 2-3 seconds. In addition, I look for eye contact with the other person while they’re shaking my hand. A lack of eye contact was never an issue I had with people until I was fortunate to meet “Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd.

To provide some background, I spent my final semester of senior year in the Winter/Spring of 2017 participating in a “study abroad” program in Washington, D.C. hosted by my college, Boston University. As part of the program, we participated in a variety of field trips to visit and get to know different institutions within our nation’s capital. One of these trips included attending a taping of Meet the Press, followed by a Q&A session with Chuck Todd at Washington’s NBC studios. While I had never really watched Meet the Press, I was still pumped to attend the filming and connect with a political journalist.

Once the show’s taping was complete, all the students from the program went to the stage and stood in a line to meet Chuck. Being the courteous person I am, I chose to be the last one in the line, just ahead of one of our program director’s Lisa, a fairly pretty woman in her early thirties with popping red hair and a warm smile. As Todd went down the line of students he greeted each with a friendly smile and firm handshake. I was stoked to get to see his face up close (as strange as that sounds). Finally he reached out his hand to shake mine. I looked up to make eye contact as he shook my hand, only to be disappointed that his attention was not on me but my pretty program director standing next to me.

Ultimately, I still think Chuck Todd is great at what he does, but my brief interaction with him, which didn’t include eye contact, led me to believe that first, I’m not as good-looking as I thought I was, and more importantly gave me the perception that he didn’t care much to meet me and was doing a Q&A for us out of sense of obligation rather than from the goodness of his heart. While I’m sure that wasn’t the case, it proves my point that making eye contact and greeting an acquaintance with a firm handshake goes a long way in making a positive first impression.

Disclaimer: I acknowledge and concur that during the era of coronavirus, handshakes shouldn't occur and can be substituted with a cordial smile or an elbow tap (once we get to that point).