By Angela Ambitho
NAIROBI, KENYA: How to dress to impress, how to communicate to invoke trust, how to posture to exude confidence, how to stand out as the best above the rest are all challenges that we persistently face when we compete for jobs, positions and even social acceptance.
We live in a society that judges us primarily by our physical appearance and ability to advance our propositions. Those who have the gift of garb, the skill in creating an impression and the art of swag tend to make it further in the path of life as compared to those who sit pretty waiting for manna to fall and for ability to be recognised.
Quite philosophically, we can postulate that every time we step out into the world, we face intense scrutiny and vetting from all those around us. Our neighbours scrutinise our behaviour to determine whether the home front is pleasant or tumultuous, colleagues examine our demeanor to gauge our propensity to win or lose, clients assess our conduct to deliver on promises and strangers create an impression of whether our persona is repulsive or attractive just from the first glance.
In fact, everywhere we turn, there’s sure to be someone judging whether or not we are who they think we are. Due to this persistent societal inspection we learn that image is everything and invest heavily in our outward appearance. And for those who understand just how pivotal it all is, they invest even more heavily in the ‘inward’ appearance that provides the zest, zeal and gusto to face life with enthusiasm no matter what. While image is everything, it’s nothing void of intricate preparation. As we venture for job interviews, business pitches or even social engagements, we are tasked with anticipating all technical questions that could be posed, preempting all personal issues that could be raised and predicting any historical sensitive occurrences that could be revisited.
Even more critically we are expected to conduct background and emotional intelligence on those we shall come face to face with in the judging panel. Most panels tend to consist of three types of people; the neutral, the balanced and the biased.
Those who are neutral are often fence-sitters keen on taking the safe middle ground. Where they could make a decisive choice, they make generalised statements. Those who are balanced on the other hand are bolder and tend to weigh all the pros and cons before making their decision. Where they could make generalised conclusions, they make more decisive ones often rationalising why. Those who are biased unashamedly take a stance based on their predispositions and values. They are often inclined toward a candidate who is their tribe, gender, schoolmate or friend. They have no qualms going out of their way to defend their preference.
Without doubt we have all been victims of the three personalities, seldom to our pleasure and frequently to our dismay. The vetting you and I undergo in our daily endeavours is not at all easy. Yet in the success and failures we learn to improve for the next encounter.
As we face the realities of constant scrutiny and vetting, it must have been interesting to watch our Cabinet secretaries during the recently concluded vetting exercise. The kid-glove approach that was applied with many of the candidates suggested that the exercise was more of a rubber stamp for the nominations made. The lukewarm manner in which technical competence was established, personal character was unearthed and historical scandals or grey areas were clarified made us realise that what the candidates had undergone was a field day in comparison to the grilling sessions we endure in our quests for jobs. Indeed, watching the events unfold made me wonder whether we currently have a Constitution whose tenets are ahead of its time. Whatever the case, it’s refreshing that we have embarked on the journey.
Moving forward, as our new Executive starts its mission to help us all fulfill our dreams, let’s hope they will work with honesty, dignity and utmost professionalism.
Let’s pray that they will endeavour to exceed our expectations, proving that despite neutrality and bias witnessed in select cases, they were worth every penny. Finally, start the week more balanced than neutral, won’t you!
