Currently re-reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking in advance of a bidding interview and presentation workshop for contractors tomorrow(*)

According to Malcolm Gladwell,  decision and impressions may occur much faster than previously thought – think instantaneously or in two seconds.

The interview panel may then, without thinking, have made their first impressions as you walk in the room, before you start talking or presenting, yet we focus on content and presentation rather than team composition, team appearance and team impression.

Whenever we have to make sense of complicated situations or deal with lots of information quickly, we bring to bear all of our beliefs, attitudes, values, experiences, education and more on the situation. Then, we thin-slice the situation to comprehend it quickly. The implications of this concept have astonishing significance for our personal reactions to most situations.

We should of course be using this thinking and Gladwells research to advantage.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling The Tipping Point explores the extraordinarily perceptive and deceptive power of the sub-conscious mind. Gladwell’s major claim is that decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as a decision made cautiously and deliberately. What we are actually doing is what Gladwell calls ‘thin-slicing’. When we leap to a decision or have a hunch our unconscious is sifting through the situation in front of us looking for a pattern, throwing out the irrelevant information and zeroing in on what really matters. Our unconscious mind is so good at this that it often delivers a better answer than more deliberate and protracted ways of thinking. Much of this is utterly mysterious but some of the most astonishing and useful examples of thin-slicing can be learned.

(*) Contact me for information on bid interview and presentation skills support and workshop