A Touch of Class

Maybe you heard it growing up, “sit up straight”, “Don’t drag your feet”, “Don’t chew with your mouth open” or “tuck your shirt in”, and you rolled your eye’s and begrudgingly did as you were told. Believe it or not, these are all valuable lessons for success. We’ve all heard the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” However, the reality is, people do judge the book by the cover. The cover is the first thing we see when selecting a book. The only way to determine if the book is any good is to read it. Your appearance is the same as that book cover, and people will judge you on your appearance.

I’m sure at some time in your life you have listened to someone on the radio and based on the sound of their voice, you created a mental image of what that person on the radio looked like. You may have envisioned a tall, middle aged gentleman, well dressed and clean shaven. Only to have your metal image shattered when you saw the person on a television interview. To your amazement you found out that the person is a short, stocky guy with clothing that looks like he slept in them.

The same is true of your image. People will naturally create a mental image of your professionalism, intelligence and character based on what you look like.

Claude M. Bristol once said, “Every person is the creation of himself, the image of his own thinking and believing. As individuals think and believe, so they are.”

“You only get the chance to make a first impression once” is a profound statement. Whether it’s a new job interview, a meeting with your boss, or a presentation to the board of directors, the mental images that people create upon meeting you will determine how successful you will be in dealing with that person. It does not matter whether you are meeting them for the first time or the one hundredth time, your appearance will determine how other people perceive you at that moment.

Image yourself sitting in a reception area waiting for a job interview. Across from you is a well dress “James Bond” type gentleman, well groomed, confident and obviously dressed for success.

You have the experience and the knowledge to perform the job at hand; you’re a perfect fit for the job. You have your resume in order, you’re well organized, and you have the credentials to backup your experience. You are calm, you fear nothing!

You sit calmly as the other candidate is escorted into his interview. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, finally an hour passes, and he emerges from his interview, and confidently exits the reception area.

Your name is called! You standup and walk into the office for your interview. You are offered a chair, and you sit down, only to realize you are facing the interviewer, and directly behind him is a huge mirror, and you suddenly notice that you have mismatched shoe’s, your shirt looks like you slept in it, and your pants have a hole in the knee.

At this point where do you think your confidence level is? By this point, it really doesn’t matter what you say, the odds are the interviewer has made up his mind before you even opened your mouth. His mental image of your personality has been established in his minds eye.

At this point all is not lost! You can still save the interview with your experience, knowledge and skills, but it won’t be easy. You still have to convince the interviewer to reject his mental image his minds eye has created.

To paraphrase P.J. O’Rourke, “The more extraordinary you are, the more dignified you should look. It also works in reverse. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person”.

Your appearance can make you or break you. If you want to succeed in business or life in general, you need to establish the right mind set. You may be thinking it’s not fair to judge someone by the way they dress, but the reality is, life is not fair. People will naturally assume that how things look on the outside is an indication of how things are on the inside

American historian, Christopher Lasch summed it up best when he said, “Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.”

So sit up straight, tuck your shirt in, and prepare yourself for success.