What’s your IQ-Image Quotient?

Yes, certainly. That is where the idiom ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ brings relief. However, for that to happen, a person has to be in constant contact with the other for a period of at least eight to ten months. But this is, in a sense, luxury, for this can happen only if the person is within your circles for that period. Even then, the scales can tip either ways.

Conversely, when given a choice, what will hold true in all cases is the phrase—‘First impression is the last impression.’ If you fail to create an impact in the minds of someone in the first few moments of meeting them, most people will likely not meet or be inclined to interact with you a second time.

Image management is all about respect—respect for the self and others as well as respect for occasions, roles, and goals at home, in the school, in the community and at the workplace. It is about being a creator of your own destiny as Barbara rightly says. Your image is your identity. Own it to let the world know you have arrived.

Try these tips

• Coordinate your socks with your trousers and not with your shoes.
• Match your metals –
• watches, buckles, shoe adornments, eye- frames, accessories.
• Watch your hand-shake – firm, not limp & loose.
• At the table wait for your host to begin eating.
• ALL CAPS in email is akin to shouting.
• Greet the person with their name.
• LinkedIn is not a social platform. Photos of cats, babies and night-outs is a misfit here.