The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Take Control of Day One: Make a Powerful First Impression

Our brains remember information "presented first and last, and have an inclination to forget the middle items."^[34] People will remember vividly their first impressions of and their last interaction with you. While you can update their last interaction constantly, you are going to be stuck with those first impressions. So, be careful when choosing them. Be careful about the messages you send with your words, with your actions, with the order of your actions, with the signs and symbols you deploy. This is why Day One is the pivot point for onboarding. Many people that are important to your new role will form their first, indelible impression of you on this day.

There is no one right way to do this, but there are many wrong ways to do this. It is all about the first impression received. Different people will have different impressions of the same thing depending on their perspective and filters. The problem is that prior to your first interactions with them, you can't understand their perspective and filters. So not only is there no one right answer, it will be difficult to figure out the best answer for your particular situation. This is another reason it is so valuable to get a jump-start on relationships and learning during the fuzzy front end. Not only does that let you manage your initial impressions on those people ...