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The "Blink" Test

I tell my students, in the very first class of the semester, about the "blink test."

Malcom Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) sums the idea up nicely in his introduction to his latest book, Blink. He describes the experiences of some of the world's most renowned art experts as they view a rare Greek statue - a kouros - as it is being acquired by the Getty Museum. As the story unfolds, we see the application of the blink test. As Mr. Gladwell writes, "In the first two seconds of looking - in a single glance - they were able to understand more about the statue than the team at the Getty was able to understand after fourteen months."

Those first two seconds, a large body of empirical evidence shows (much of it profiled in the book, so we won't cite dozens of sources here), become our window into the "truth" of an experience, or the credibility of a person.

Think about it. You're interviewing a candidate. You make a judgment very quickly: do they fit, are they smart, is this someone I want to work with, are they cool? The same thing happens in a meeting. Or a presentation.

It applies to writing as well. Remember Mrs. Lynch in eighth-grade English relentlessly stressing the importance of the topic sentence? She knew.

All of us make an initial assessment - and have one made of us - very quickly. It's not that we can't change it later or over time, but it's obviously better to have a good first impression (hey, you never get a second chance: how often have you heard that maxim turned cliche? But remember, cliches are cliches because they have some truth to them.)

Think about it as a consumer: Starbucks gives a wonderful blink test; most airlines give a horrible one. How is it in your organization? When you make an important presentation are the first two seconds so engaging and promising that an audience can't wait for what follows? Or is it something to be overcome?

And if it is a good blink test, can it be consistent? Jan Carlzon, president of Scandinavian Airlines from 1981 to 1993, set the bar in his wonderful book Moments of Truth:

"Last year, each of our 10 million customers came in contact with approximately five SAS employees, and this contact lasted an average of 15 seconds each time. Thus, SAS is 'created' 50 million times a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million 'moments of truth' are the moments that ultimately determine whether SAS will succeed or fail as a company."

And only one good blink test (or moment of truth) doesn't count. It has to be ritualized, internalized, consistently communicated. That's why no less a market force than Procter & Gamble (consistently a leader in this area) recently created the position of "Director of First Moment of Truth." It's a bit of a mouthful (how do you get all that on a business card?) but Dina Howell, the owner of that business card, heads a 15-person department to help make sure that the blink tests we do as consumers of P&G products are consistent at and beyond the point of sale (in consumer package goods, about two-thirds of purchase decisions are made at the point of sale.)

So how about your organization? What do the first two seconds of your communication say about you as an enterprise? In a presentation? In a meeting? In a document? Is it what you want to communicate? And is it done consistently?

We'd love to hear your thoughts: what you're doing, wish you were doing, or think you should be doing better. And who do you feel are the leaders, the benchmarks, the best practice owners of good, solid, consistent blink tests? Please drop us a quick comment and we'll aggregate all we hear (or read) and share it with you in a future post.

Posted by Chris Labash