First Impressions

Creating a good first impression is super important they say. It is what people use to base much of the rest of their relationship with you off of. Well, that is true, but I want to explain a bit why. It all comes down to confirmation bias.

See, when someone meets you they establish a set of baseline opinions about you. These opinions are based on how your looks, demeanor, and the setting you are in line up with their prejudices (good and bad).

For example, you are dressed in a sharp suit, and introduced to the CEO of Generic Corp at a fancy party by one of the CEO's good friends. The good friend says you are a up and coming go-getter and have some really good ideas about how to make Generic Corp even more generic. You haven't even said a word and you have already gotten set up in the CEO's mind pretty high on the competency scale.

Later that day your paternal twin happens to see the Generic Corp CEO on the street. They are dressed in casual clothes and holding a somewhat crumpled paper bag having just come from the store, behind them is an alley filled with trash, your twin smiles revealing a large piece of lettuce stuck to a tooth from lunch. The CEO thinks the grocery bag and trash behind them makes them look passingly like a homeless person.

The next you and your twin meet the CEO at the Generic Corp headquarters to present your ideas. You are both dressed to impress and give your presentations. You stayed up too late and got your slides mixed up, plus your ideas are mediocre. Alternatively your twin comes in with the most beautiful slide deck and presents a brilliant set of ideas on how to make Generic Corp the most boring company in the history of corporations, a surefire winner.

Who will win? Probably your twin, but for the sake of exaggerating to make a point you do. Why?

Everything you say and every interaction from that first introduction at the party will be measured in the CEO's mind against that initial impression. Things that match will confirm the initial high opinion, and things that don't will be shifted to fit or if they can't be will be dismissed as out of character behavior that isn't important. Confirmation bias locks you in at that high level. So when the CEO looks at your presentation they are pulling out the best pieces of it and more or less ignoring all the dumb stuff.

Your twin on the other hand is having a bad time. Every time they bend over to change the slide the CEO is reminded of the old homeless lady he saw pushing a cart around filled with garbage bags. All the best ideas are glossed over and any holes or weak points are focused on. Who dressed up this bum and let them in to do a presentation anyway? Again, confirmation bias.

First impressions are a powerful force for good or ill. You can overcome them (for good or ill) as well, but it takes a lot of work. Repeated evidence will eventual overcome that initial impression, but it takes a lot. Psychologically people do not like being wrong, so they will stick with an inaccurate impression for quite a while.

The moral of the story is, take time to make good first impressions and you will have a lot more room to fail versus having to prove yourself repeatedly.