I was on a flight from Las Vegas to Seattle, passing the time by flicking through the in-flight magazine. As usual, adverts littered the pages with articles on various travel related issues. One advert in particular jumped out at me. "Psychiatric Counselling for Executives". It was not the subject matter that grabbed my attention, it was the photograph of the, I assume, service provider, Dr. Whatever-His-Name-Is.
I have always found it strange that people would place a photograph of themselves on their advertisements, as if it is some sort of hook to get people to think "Hey, I like the look of that person, that's the kind of person I want to deal with." They are everywhere and more noticeably on giant billboards as you drive along urban highways. These huge pictures of people, smiling invitingly, trying to give out reassuring vibes of trust and solidarity "Like you, like me."
I remember listening to one of those self help CD's many years ago and a section dealt with this issue specifically. The advice was, if you are going to use a photograph of yourself, make sure its one that's not that great- after all, you want people to be surprised on the upside and not on the downside, when they actually meet you. WHAT!!!? I would have thought that if you were going to display yourself in that way, you should make it look great!! you want people to come to see you surely, don't worry about how surprised they are going to be when they do.
Dr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is, change that photograph or better still, leave it off altogether. I am sure you are very nice person and good at what you do, but your photograph does not reflect well on you. In fact, it represented to me what an executive with psyciatric challenges may actually look like. STOP!
With Love
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