Ducks in a Row: First Impressions and Personal Branding
by Miki Saxon
It’s not just companies, these days branding is applicable on a personal level as never before, whether you are a rock star, a rock star CEO or a wannabe; a college student, new grad or a working stiff trying to improve your lot; everything is about “the brand.”
Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace has a good post on the value of first impressions, since research has shown that there may be a second chance.
Part of branding is the impression you make, so I thought I would share a multi-decade observation on the subject that applies to everything—interviewing, public speaking, personal relationships—the entire spectrum of human interaction. It is neither good nor bad, merely human.
First impressions are generally based on personal prejudices and chemistry.
I’ve found the former can change from negative to positive based on further interaction, but that chemistry only changes from positive to negative.
For example, years ago I spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco; afterwards a woman thanked me and told me that based on my appearance she almost left. (I am nearly six feet tall and although not model thin I wasn’t plus-size, either.) She assumed that I would have nothing intelligent to say on the subject based on my size, but instead found my material valuable and my presentation excellent. Obviously, I had crossed several of her visual prejudices.
Chemistry, however, is entirely different.
Chemistry is not grounded in anything rational, not even personal prejudices, nor is it irrational—it just is.
Think about it; you meet someone and have an instant positive reaction to the person for absolutely no reason you can figure out.
It isn’t sexual attraction, since the person can be of either gender; it’s a psychological reaction along the lines of I want to know that person better and then acting on the desire because the chemistry is so strong.
When the chemistry is mutual, you experience that heady feeling of instant connection, whereas with bad chemistry people can’t even hear each other. However, positive chemistry can change the minute the other person opens her mouth and every thought and word turns sours your initial reaction.
As your own brand manager, here are your three critical take-aways:
- First impressions do count and shouldn’t be neglected on the assumption that you can change them later because you suddenly decide it’s worth the effort;
- chemistry is chemistry and outside of your control; and, most important of all,
- don’t hide behind chemistry and use it as a rationalization for not putting out first impression effort.
Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/
