Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It is usually my loss when I form a first impression of another person.

“You only have one chance to make a first impression.” Blah, blah, blah, and on we go.

Most of the cliches about first impressions tend to put the burden of work on the new person trying to make the impression. What I find, however, is that those meeting the new person have to work hard or we lose.

First impressions are lasting. That is because us old hands meeting the new person tend to be, let’s see, how should I write this? Stupid.

We hire a person to do a menial job. They earn a degree or two while working with us. We never give them credit for their advancing education and skill. We still see the menial task doer who walked in the first day. Hence, they leave and go somewhere else where someone will appreciate them for what they can do. We lose. We are stupid.

The Washington Redskins find themselves in such a stupid predicament at this time. They have a quarterback whom they drafted in a late round the same year they drafted a supposed, but not realized, super-duper star. They can’t move past their first impression of their current quarterback. They can’t sign him to a big contract because they still see that skinny guy who drove up in a cheap old car and took his seat in the back of the room. They are, uh, er, stupid.

Well, let’s try not to be so stupid. The persons who walk in the door each day are not the same persons who walked in the door yesterday let alone five years ago. Each person changes and grows each day. Let’s be smart enough to value each person each day.