First Impression Bias

A number of weeks ago, our company was exhibiting at a trade show. A man of large stature approached our booth as well as a very short woman both from the same organization. Now in the world of trade shows, you have to determine fairly quickly who is a potential buyer and who are what we affectionately call "lookie-loos".  You want to especially spend your time with those that can actually buy something. I ASSUMED the man of large stature was the decision maker and the woman of short stature was his assistant or someone of less importance so I spent most of my time addressing him. At the end of our demonstration, he referred to the woman of short stature as his "bosses boss". We were joking about it afterwords as we seemingly were all caught in bias. I even jokingly told my co-worker Debbie (also my spouse so I can get away with this statement) that I thought I would ask the woman of short stature to get coffee for us.

Malcom Gladwell wrote a book "Blink" that describes the kind of rapid judgment calls we make. It is called "thin-slicing". It is a necessary part of the human decision making process. As a business owner, I have to make snap judgments all the time, usually every day. But it is very dangerous when we apply it to human beings who have been uniquely made in the image of God. Stature is very misleading. Saul, the failed king of Israel was a tall man of great stature. David, God's man was "ruddy" which almost means kind of effeminate looking. Paul apparently was not a man of great stature. The apostles for the most part were men you would not pick as your football team.

My judgment call was incorrectly based on stature only and obviously an incorrect one. I think what I need and what most of us needs is a more discerning heart when it comes to people. Thin slicing is not a bad thing - we have to be able to make sound decisions on minimal information. But when it comes to people, we need to be more contemplative. We need to see them through the God lens. Each is unique and who they are in God's eyes and their potential is not always obvious. In the business context, had I looked past my sexist-height bias, I would have seen that more clearly.