In business today, the handshake is used as a worldwide gesture for meeting, greeting, and sealing a deal. It is a ritualized gripping of another's hand, with one or more up-and-down (or, in Texas, sideways) motions followed by a quick release. Since the fingertips and palmar surface of the hand are exquisitely sensitive, the shake itself can be deeply personal. We instantly feel the warmth or coolness, dryness or moistness, and firmness or weakness of another's grip. Sensory input from a hand's thermal and pressure receptors to the brain's parietal sensory area can be intense (especially in courtship). From the parietal lobe, the handshake's message travels to deeper areas of the limbic system for an emotional interpretation to judge how the shake felt.

If you travel to France on business, be prepared to shake hands dozens of times a day. Office workers in Paris may shake in the morning to greet, and in the afternoon to say goodbye, to colleagues. Outside vendors and technicians will handshake with everyone present when they enter or leave an office. Contrast this to the Japanese practice of giving few intra-office handshakes in favor of polite bows of the head. In Islamic nations, it is strictly taboo for men to shake hands in public with women. So, while the handshake has become a worldwide gesture in business, you should learn cultural protocols on shaking before you travel.