More Than Words

"Peter is intellectually curious, speedy though sometimes not great at meeting deadlines..." - Kzysztof is taking his turn at a Talent Review meeting. Around him sit the European Board of an American Multinational Company. Their main task for the morning is to sift through the names of managers and attempt to qualify and agree their potential to become executives of the organisation. As Kzysztof labours his list, others listen carefully, connecting the words' various layers of meaning and building an impression of each individual described.

Solomon Asch experimented with the formation of impressions. He put lists of attributes in front of people and asked them to describe the person behind them. He cunningly then changed one of the attributes in the list and asked another set of people the same question.

Here's an example of two lists used (A and B):
A. intelligent—skillful—industrious—warm—determined—practical—cautious. People concluded this was "a person who believes certain things to be right... would be sincere in an argument... is driven by the desire to accomplish something that would be of benefit."

B. intelligent—skillful—industrious—cold—determined—practical—cautious. People said this was "a very ambitious and talented person who would not let anyone or anything stand in the way of achieving his goal... A rather snobbish person who feels that his success and intelligence set him apart from the run-of-the-mill individual. Calculating and unsympathetic."

It is fascinating how out of a limited list of words the human brain builds up the illusion of a fully rounded individual. It is also unsettling how a single attribute from that list (warm vs. cold) can polarise so completely the illusion.

If Solomon Asch would have had aspirations in the Corporate world he would have probably been very careful with his choice of boss, and particulary picky with regards to his boss' ability with the Corporate language (i.e. the language in which talent reviews are held). If in an American company he might have preferred a native English speaker, in a German multinational, a native German speaker.

After all, Kzysztof, an imaginary Pole with a rather rough English might have put Solomon's career aspirations at risk as he stood in front of the European Board scuffling with the subtleties of his own words.