On my regular train journey the other day, a guy sat himself down at a table with one other man and two girls and began to engage in conversation. After only 30 seconds they were laughing, smiling and hanging on his every word. This is the alpha male at work.

I tuned in to what I could of the conversation, to learn tales of Monaco, motor racing, meeting a Prince, driving fast cars...

Now, I have no idea whether these tales were the well-worn anecdotes of an international playboy who lives the most incredibly exciting life, or indeed if this was a direct descendant of Baron Munchausen. What I can tell you though is that they SOUNDED convincing. They were told well enough to captivate and hold the attention of his train-bound audience, but not too fanciful to ring alarm bells that this was a fiction-meister of the highest order.

This guy was an alpha male. So, onto the next question...

So, how do you become the alpha male? First, you need to understand the characteristics that make the alpha male.

At his simplest, the alpha-male is the person that other people look up to; leaders, people who are respected. Note, that in this post I use words such as he/him/himself; primarily male. However, women also have the capacity to exhibit the alpha-male characteristics; we'll explore that in the future.

Back to the man on the train; watching him I could see that he marked out his territory, not only with what he was saying, but also with how he was sitting, and his mannerisms. He looked confident and at ease with himself. I imagine he wouldn't have really cared what his audience thought of him - the alpha male doesn't ("it's their loss") - but his way of controlling the conversation and using strong eye contact put his new friends at ease and made them feel comfortable. It's worth saying at this point that you must learn how to do this without coming across as merely brash and arrogant. You'll win no friends that way.