sans photographs
Here is a thought -
Many of us work for corporations which have facebooks on the intranet. If you need to find someones' phone number then all you do I look up the name on the intranet which gives you all pertinent information including the photograph. So many times I form a quick opinion about a person just by looking at the photograph. I genuinely believe that a person with a weak chin or a pencil moustache is easier to manipulate and convince. I think people who look approachable and friendly in the photograph are also the same over the phone.
In other words i'm using non-verbal cues to establish a tack to follow while talking to a person.
But I think this is wrong, unimaginably wrong. I think we should always go absolutely neutrally into any face off. Using imprecise information such as a receding chin is as wrong as using the colour of ones' skin. My belief is that the first face to face meeting with someone should always absolutely neutral to the extent that the only thing you have to work with are names and written text. Thankfully, due to globalisation, there is no reason a guy with the name Vladimir has to be Russian. The advantage is that you're on your toes knowing that you don't have the comfort of a stereotype to fall back on. And it gives the other party a chance to start on a fresh page.
Many of us work for corporations which have facebooks on the intranet. If you need to find someones' phone number then all you do I look up the name on the intranet which gives you all pertinent information including the photograph. So many times I form a quick opinion about a person just by looking at the photograph. I genuinely believe that a person with a weak chin or a pencil moustache is easier to manipulate and convince. I think people who look approachable and friendly in the photograph are also the same over the phone.
In other words i'm using non-verbal cues to establish a tack to follow while talking to a person.
But I think this is wrong, unimaginably wrong. I think we should always go absolutely neutrally into any face off. Using imprecise information such as a receding chin is as wrong as using the colour of ones' skin. My belief is that the first face to face meeting with someone should always absolutely neutral to the extent that the only thing you have to work with are names and written text. Thankfully, due to globalisation, there is no reason a guy with the name Vladimir has to be Russian. The advantage is that you're on your toes knowing that you don't have the comfort of a stereotype to fall back on. And it gives the other party a chance to start on a fresh page.