Insight: First Impressions

By Ed Pierce
Managing Editor

As a journalist, over the years I’ve learned that first impressions are like a pair of sunglasses in that they probably hide too much when meeting someone for the first time.

Coach Joe Drum works on a puzzle at his home
in Florida. He turned 90 last week.
COURTESY PHOTO

After decades of interviewing politicians, athletes, coaches, business owners, physicians, scientists, event promoters and just about anybody who is going to be the subject of a newspaper article, I’ve tried to understand what it is these people are trying to convey to the public through the image they want me to see.

I’ve tried to pick up their nonverbal communication or body language and overlook physical features, clothing, hairstyle and voice or accent and peer behind the initial impression some of these individuals have made upon me. Because I’ve been interviewing people since 1975, I’d like to think I’ve learned to downplay physical features and seek out someone’s compassion, humility or good humor to present a well-rounded depiction of a subject in an article I write.

Just starting out in my career I would try to lead an interaction with an interview subject, but I quickly discovered that to make an accurate assessment of somebody, you want to bring out their true nature. People needed to trust me to be authentic or else they would attempt to hoodwink me into reporting inaccurate information.

What I found was that if an interview subject felt defensive or threatened, it wasn’t a natural interaction. I was never very good at “Mike Wallace ambush style journalism” and so by keeping my word when someone wanted to go “off the record” in an interview or to not ask questions meant to intimidate or embarrass someone, it led to better information to use in an article.

In covering high school football, on many occasions I would have to interview a football coach for a team that lost a game by 40 more points. My first question would always be “can you single out a player for me on your team who played their heart out tonight?” or “despite the final score, what did your team do right in this game?” Doing that left these coaches with a caring first impression of me and opened the door to some great interviews down the road.

My father would always tell me when meeting someone that I didn’t know, to stand up straight, look someone in the eye and shake their hand firmly. Not everyone I’ve interviewed was taught to do that though.

I once interviewed a college basketball coach during a tryout camp for unsigned college players at a junior college one summer and the way that he shook hands was to lightly touch his fingers against mine. He never looked at me directly in the eye throughout my interview with him and I’m sorry to say he didn’t leave a very good first impression with me.

On the other hand, I thought that actor Alan Arbus was someone I had known for my entire life. During an interview, Arbus spent a lot of time answering my questions about his psychiatrist role as Dr. Sidney Freedman on the television series M*A*S*H despite being on a promotional tour for the film “From the Hip” in 1987.

I surmised that Arbus had been on previous promotional tours for projects and his openness and sense of humor was a way of coping with being asked the same questions by the media repeatedly. Since I had only interviewed actors a few times before though, Arbus made a strong first impression and I vividly recall that interview to this very day.

When I was in seventh grade in 1965, my town’s high school basketball team reached the sectional semifinals and the following year I became a basketball fan for life as that team reached the sectional championship game.

Sixty years later, I was fortunate to have dinner with some members of that 1965 team and their coach, Joe Drum, in my hometown of Henrietta, New York. I had never met Coach Drum before, and in the lobby of the restaurant that the team was at that night, we were introduced and struck up a memorable conversation about basketball that I didn’t want to end.

I learned that Coach Drum, who now lives in Florida, was also a star basketball player for my high school and graduated the year I was born. He is an amazing man who just turned 90 although he remains physically strong and healthy and is one of the most charismatic individuals I’ve ever met.

The players on his 1965 basketball team idolize Coach Drum and it’s evident that his inspirational personality and positivity impacts everyone with whom he’s associated.

I only spent about six hours of time with Coach Drum at several events that weekend but feel like he is a genuine friend. My initial impression of meeting him proved to be right on the money.

From what I’ve gathered during my years in journalism and in life, I believe that the key to creating a great first impression is to show others that you think they are important. A positive first impression can help build positive momentum in creating a good relationship and that’s half the battle, no matter what the situation may be.