First Impressions
- Posted by Asha Reddy
- On June 21, 2017
- News
Hello, everyone. I am Asha, the first A in ANAAR. For those not familiar with ANAAR, it stands for Asha Nirdosh Arvind Anand Reddy.
Arvind, Nirdosh and I are touring Jane Austen country. Although we are on vacation, Anaar is not far from our thoughts – it seems to travel with us.
While in Winchester, we were discussing Pride and Prejudice and realized that it espouses one of the guiding principles of the Anaar BPM approach – manage with facts, not opinions. For those who don’t know, the original title of Pride and Prejudice was First Impressions and the novel’s plot is based on how Elizabeth’s opinion of Darcy changes as circumstances unfold.
Elizabeth’s first impressions of Darcy were not positive – she thought he was proud, haughty and arrogant. And she was carried away by Wickham’s charming manners and thought that he was unjustly wronged. Over time, she realizes that the truth was anything but.
Facts revealed that Darcy was indeed a just, honorable and caring man; that Wickham was unprincipled and willing to exploit the weaknesses of others.
Opinions are fraught with danger. Decisions based on opinions can and do wreck enterprises. As we all know, our prejudices influence how we react. If you like someone, you are swayed by their opinions, even if when they are wrong; if you dislike someone, you discount what they say, even if it is true. These assumptions have potentially fatal consequences as we see in ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
Managing with facts has several advantages – you remove personal biases, you get a more objective and realistic assessment, you avoid pitting one person against another, you maintain balanced and good relationships with your friends and associates, and you avoid making regrettable decisions. When you subordinate your prejudices to facts, the outcomes of your decisions become far better.
Gathering and verifying data takes time, but reduces the risk of making wrong and sometimes fatal decisions. Life does not always give a second chance as Elizabeth was fortunate to have.
So, beware of your first impressions. Don’t rely on them until you have substantiated them with facts.
- First Impressions - June 21, 2017
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