2.A Simple Way to Make a Good First Impression
At a dinner party in New York, one of the guests, a woman who had inherited money,
was eager to make a pleasing impression on everyone. She had squandered a modest
fortune on sables, diamonds and pearls. But she hadn’t done anything whatever about
her face. It radiated sourness and selfishness. She didn’t realize what everyone knows:
namely, that the expression one wears on one’s face is far more important than the
clothes one wears on one’s back.
Charles Schwab told me his smile had been worth a million dollars. And he was
probably understating the truth. For Schwab’s personality, his charm, his ability to
make people like him, were almost wholly responsible for his extraordinary success;
and one of the most delightful factors in his personality was his captivating smile.
Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, “I like you, you make me happy. I
am glad to see you.” That is why dogs make such a hit. They are so glad to see us that
they almost jump out of their skins. So, naturally, we are glad to see them.
A baby’s smile has the same effect.
Have you ever been in a doctor’s waiting room and looked around at all the glum faces
waiting impatiently to be seen? Dr, Stephen K. Sproul, a veterinarian in Raytown,
Missouri, told of a typical spring day when his waiting room was full of clients waiting
to have their pets inoculated. No one was talking to anyone else, and all were probably
thinking of a dozen other things they would rather be doing than “wasting time” sitting
in that office. He told one of our classes: “There were six or seven clients waiting when
a young woman came in with a nine-month-old baby and a kitten. As luck would have
it, she sat down next to a gentleman who was more than a little distraught about the
long wait for service. The next thing he knew, the baby just looked up at him with that