Malcolm Gladwell

Are you familiar with the writings of Malcolm Gladwell? He's a kind of business guru these days. One of his books, Blink, talks about how peope make lasting first impressions in the blink of an eye. If people are given positive information about something, they will be predisposed to have a positive experience. The opposite also holds.

Today I had a wonderful experience working with a group of teachers who are part of the Chigasaki Method of English Study. The people in charge of the talk had already given a lot of positive background about me and my lecture style to the members of the group (around 50, I think). As a result, the participants were well-primed to receive my talk positively.

I never forget the time I had an opposite experience. Several years ago Gaz and I were doing a training session with a new client. The person in charge of the training decided not even to come to the session. Instead, he instructed one of the participants to make the introduction of the instructors on his behalf. The person seemed very nervous and, actually, put out that he had been asked to do this. So he said, "I really have no idea why we are here today, but my boss told me to come and make this introduction, so since we have to be here until 17:00, why don't we make the best of this situation?" 

As you can guess, the participants began with a very negative attitude towards the day's training and it took us much longer than usual to bring them on board. We finally could do that, but in Gaz's words, "We fought with the marlin." (A Hemmingway reference from Old Man and the Sea.)

Today was anything but a marlin. I don't know how many people came up to take a photo with me before and after the 90-minute session!! But I was so happy that I could deliver some content to some eager people who were positively predisposed to listen to my message.

Thank you, Kazue and Roy. You made my job much easier today. One of the best sessions I have ever had in my career. Seriously. It was a pleasure.

Robert