The Power of First Impressions

Whether we like it or not, it takes just three seconds to come to a conclusion about someone new (Flora, 2004). First impressions strike like lightning and before we hear the thunder, we have formed a first opinion. “According to New York University, Graduate School of Business, people make eleven decisions about us in the first seven seconds of contact: (1) education level, (2) economic level, (3) perceived creditability and believability, (4) trustworthiness, (5) level of sophistication, (6) sexual identification, (7) level of success, (8) political background, (9) religious background, (10) ethnic background, and (11) social and professional desirability” (Boucher, 2009, p. 1). Personally, I immediately assess character and attitude when I see or read text about someone for the first time.

When reading Clark’s (2010) “First Impressions” for the first time, I assessed John’s character to be that of an extrovert, governing the situations he was confronted with from walking on the sunny side of the sidewalk to greeting a woman he had just met. In the second scenario, John appeared to be an introvert, avoiding any confrontation, positive or negative. If the scenarios were intentionally reversed, and I had read it for the first time, I might unconsciously think John was an introvert, even while reading the second scenario. My first impression of his character would have stayed with me in this reversal. Consciously or unconsciously, a first impression can easily influence us, thus achieving a desired effect.

One example of consciously influencing a first impression is known as impression management. Corporations use this technique, defined as “the goal-directed activity of controlling information about a person, object, entit...

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...he effort by individuals to control the images they project in social interactions” (Provis, 2010). Ultimately, however, we are responsible for our own impressions, consciously or unconsciously. As a leader, it is our job to know when and how these first impressions can be offered, either as a corporate tactic or in leading our team to achieve the desired effect.

Works Cited

Boucher, J. (2009). First impressions matter. OfficePro, 69(5), 7.

Clark, D. (2010). First impressions. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/impress.html

Drummond, H. (1993). The power of impression management. Management Decision, 31(3), 16.

Flora, C. (2004, May/June). The once-over can you trust first impressions? Psychology Today, 37(3), 60-66.

Provis, C. (2010). The ethics of impression management. Business Ethics: A European Review, 19(2), 199-212.