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Avoid the Fallacy of First Impressions

Marching two abreast across a narrow bridge spanning the Potomac River, the Union forces were easy pickings for the Confederate Army. The Union soldiers were decimated.

The Union forces were commanded by Major General Ambrose Everett Burnside. Burnside has two notable distinctions among Civil War historical figures. First, for growing whiskers down the sides of his head, he is credited as the namesake of what we now call “side burns.”

The second distinction is that many war historians consider General Burnside to be one of the worst military tacticians in history. Burnside’s tactics at the Potomac support this dubious distinction. He never reconsidered his early assumptions about the battle conditions. And once he began to suffer heavy losses, he never changed his tactics.

When Your Strategy Isn’t Working, That’s a Clue

Aaron has a son Jonathon who has been diagnosed with an eye ailment. Jonathon must wear an eye patch over his right eye four hours a day in order to preserve his eyesight. Jonathan, who is six, hates the eye patch and will go to great lengths to avoid wearing it.

Aaron and Jonathon are having a battle of wills and wits. Jonathon complains about the other kids teasing him. He complains about the headaches, the sick feeling in his stomach, and hurting himself running into doors and furniture.

Aaron wants his son to see. Aaron knows that however bad this makes Jonathon feel, he will be far worse without vision later in life. Aaron’s logic isn’t working for Jonathon. Aaron could change tactics.

Care to Share the General’s Fate?

Walking two abreast across the Potomac, the Union forces never had a chance. As the first Union soldiers made it across the bridge, they were shot at close range. The force of the blast knocked one soldier’s rifle out of his hands, off the bridge, and into the river below . . . at a depth of four feet!

Burnside’s forces could have crossed the river a mile in either direction of the bridge with getting barely more than their boots wet. An astute general might have recognized the situation and adjusted his tactics, or even cut his losses. Recognize your error soon enough, and you can spare scarce resources.

But, you have to give up something near and dear to your heart—er—ego.

Sacrifice Your Assumptions to a Reality Check

Jonathon was not swayed by his father’s logical explanations. Fortunately, Aaron realized that in order to truly reach his son, he had to sacrifice his orientation to the problem. Aaron agreed to wear an eye patch over his right eye for four hours to get a better idea of what his son was dealing with.

Wearing an eye patch like his son, Aaron experienced headaches, nausea, and disorientation. After four hours, Aaron was very grouchy. By sacrificing his assumptions, Aaron was able to acquire Jonathon’s orientation to the problem.

Jonathon still finds the eye patch uncomfortable. He still feels the headaches, nausea, and disorientation. But something is different for Jonathon now. That his father experienced what he experienced has given Jonathon a greater resolve.

Jonathon has found the strength to endure his discomfort. And the only change between then and now is that he feels understood by his father.

How did Aaron succeed where General Burnside fail?

He Relinquished His Rights to His Own Assumptions

Burnside lived in the righteousness of his assumption. He assumed that you could only cross a river by bridge. By practicing his right, Burnside cost his men their lives.

Aaron relinquished his right to his assumption. He acknowledged his son’s right to his assumption. Aaron not only saved his son’s eyesight, but also their relationship.

First impressions are not well grounded in information. They are well grounded in your experience, in projection. “Perception is reality” is a fine motto to hold for your client’s perceptions, but if you choose to live in your perceptions then I have a question for you.

How wrong do you want to be and how often do you want to be wrong?

Avoiding the Fallacy of Your First Impressions

1. Question your assumptions

You will tend to formulate your understanding of a situation based on your personal experience. Fine if your experiences continue to correspond to your past. But, how realistic is that? Apparently, Burnside never went fly-fishing. A trip down to the water’s edge could have saved a lot of bloodshed.

Humans tend to rely on first impressions too heavily because there is a strong desire to appear consistent. This makes errors far less likely to be caught and corrected. You may very well ignore relevant information because it does not correspond to your experience or prior impressions.

Always give more weight to objectively verifiable information. Identify relevant tests for your assumptions.

2. Never take the assumptions, or opinions of others at face value

Just as you can rely on your experience and your first impressions in error, so can others. When evaluating a situation, you will be confronted by the assumptions and opinions of others.

When listening to others, identify how they came to their understanding. Do they have objectively verifiable information or did they make the mistake of raising the level of their opinions to fact?

3. Stand in the shoes of your client

Aaron came to have a completely different understanding of his son’s situation by placing himself in his son’s shoes. Each of us carries a unique perspective. You can learn a great deal about any situation by adopting another’s understanding of it.

Chances are each of you carries a piece of the puzzle. Adopting different perspectives will allow you to more easily identify the fallacy present in your own.

If you were standing in the shoes of General Burnside’s men, wouldn’t you rather be wet than dry?

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© 2004-2007 Jeff Simon Consulting. All Rights Reserved. Wouldn't you love to peer into your client's head and know what they are thinking and feeling? Could you have better success at keeping and choosing your best clients if you could decode their behavior? Check out the Happy Clients Newsletter at: www.happyclientsnewsletter.com.

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