I really dislike platitudes like, ‘you only get one opportunity to make a first impression’. In my experience, most platitudes sound clever, but either mean nothing, or are just plain wrong.   Well, when it comes to personal branding, this particular platitude not only sounds clever, but it means a great deal, and is […]

  I really dislike platitudes like, ‘you only get one opportunity to make a first impression’. In my experience, most platitudes sound clever, but either mean nothing, or are just plain wrong.   Well, when it comes to personal branding, this particular platitude not only sounds clever, but it means a great deal, and is absolutely right. When it comes to personal branding, first impressions may not be ‘everything’ but they are absolutely ‘critical’.   Research suggests that when we meet a person, we make lasting judgements about them almost instantly, and certainly in the first 30 seconds. That same research suggests that once these judgements are made, they are very difficult to change. Indeed, it has been found that once a judgement is made, from that point forward we tend to view the person through the prism created in the first 30 seconds. It becomes what might be considered…