Creating First Impressions

The power of first impressions is so powerful and so lasting that it is imperative for you to think through your first encounters when entering a new job, a new role, or making new contacts.

I was reminded of this by Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer in his HBR.org blog post, Shape Perceptions of Your Work, Early and Often. His general message is that other people can spread your praises better than you can, so be active in making that happen.

But he also reminds us that you only have one chance to make a first impression, and the stakes are incredibly high. Perceptions are also self-sustaining because, once people have formed an impression of another, they stop actively gathering new information. Once I know you are smart, I won’t attend as much to every little thing you do which means you can more easily get away with being not so brilliant and I won’t notice.

This says to me that it is critical to think through our initial encounters with people. Here are three things to help you shape your personal communications strategy.

1. Do your homework. You want the first meeting to be memorable, so find out an interesting fact or accomplishment about the person you want to impress. This shows you care enough about them to do a little pre-meeting research, and helps build a human bridge between you. Calculating, true. But effective.

When you ask a question, make sure it's a smart one. When you present an analysis, spend a few minutes thinking ahead about your key message, supporting details and follow-up or action items. Operate at 110% always, whether you're talking to your assistant or the CEO of the client.

If you're always "on" you'll show that you're smart and capable and competent and you'll find your supervisors far more willing to actually put you in front of a client. You'll also find that if you're default mode is "client mode" you'll naturally perform at a higher level over time — it's like the old saying goes — people live up to expectations.

A recent Delta advertising campaign stated: "Our customer service doesn't change with the price of oil." In other words, output is fixed — it doesn't change based on the cost of input. Your output, or the way you interact with and relate to others, should be fixed as well — without regard for status, title or even whether you're on or off the clock. This approach will provide opportunities to practice and hone your interpersonal skills. And while practice may not be necessary for people like Allen Iverson, it's a great way to sharpen your skillset, experiment with different communication strategies and prove to others that you're "client-ready" at a moment's notice.

2. What’s the outcome? Go into the meeting with a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, whether it’s an invitation for another meeting, to gauge this person’s communication style or to send a message about how you can help them in their own goals. Ask yourself, What do I want this person to say about me when I’m not in the room?

3. Follow up. Always send a timely follow-up e-mail or call to reinforce whatever themes you were communicating face-to-face.

Don't assume that anyone — your boss, your peer, or your subordinate — knows the good work you are doing. They are all probably focused on their own jobs and concerns. Do things to let them know.

Yes, I know this smacks of self-promotion, and self-promoters are not only disliked for blowing their own horns but not particularly credible in doing so. But there is a way around the dilemma. Research by social psychologist Robert Cialdini, two doctoral students, and myself shows that when you get someone else to sing your praises — even if that individual is hired by you, under your control, and the audience knows these facts — you receive attributions of competence without being tarred by the brush of behaving inappropriately

When it comes to job performance, be it in politics or in a company, perception becomes reality. This implies that you ought to manage your image and reputation as well as your actual work.

It's important to get started early on this, because perceptions become self-sustaining. This happens, first, because people tend to assimilate new information in ways consistent with their initial perception. John Browne, the former CEO of BP, was smart and hard-working and made sure everyone knew that. He was also shy and ill at ease in social situations, characteristics that might have impeded his rise to the top. But given the image of intelligence he projected in meetings and his willingness to move all over the world and work long hours, social reticence became interpreted as a result of his brilliance and intense concentration.

Perceptions are also self-sustaining because, once people have formed an impression of another, they stop actively gathering new information. Once I know you are smart, I won't attend as much to every little thing you do — which means you can more easily get away with being not so brilliant and I won't notice.

The old saw, then, that first impressions are lasting has real psychological basis. And the implication is clear:

the most important time to focus on the image you are projecting is when you first enter an organization or a new job. That's when people are going to be forming their judgments. Get off on the right foot by doing a lot of good work early and also interacting with others in a style that conveys the sort of personal brand you are seeking to build — brilliant, sociable, humorous, serious or whatever image suits you.

And here's the corollary: if bosses and colleagues have formed some unfavorable impression of you in your current setting, then find another one. Many people want to "prove" that others are wrong about them — and they may be. But it's a waste of precious time to fight that uphill battle. Why make heroic efforts to dig out of a hole when the same energy spent elsewhere could make you a star?

I'll end with a last piece of advice: do consider having an intentional, strategic, public relations strategy. Cultivate the media, write stories and blogs, give speeches relevant to your industry and area of expertise — in short, become known. When Marcelo Miranda, now the CEO of Brazilian real estate and pre-fabricated housing manufacturer Precon, was named by one of the leading Brazilian business magazines one of the 10 CEOs of the future a few years ago, his future career success was assured. Miranda, a talented and hard working individual, ensured his media exposure — and continues to do so — by reaching out to the business press in numerous ways. As he so perceptively noted when I saw him in Sao Paulo recently, "I now run a private company. If I want people to appreciate how we are growing revenues by a factor of ten in one year, I have to let them know." That's good advice for everyone seeking to rise up the corporate ladder.