The First 100 Miliseconds

I want to start with something a little provocative.

People are making judgments about us within the first 100 milliseconds of seeing our face. That’s not me being dramatic—that’s research. And even knowing that, even as a brand coach, I still feel it happening in my own body when someone shows up on screen and I can barely see them, or their face is completely dark, or they look like they just rolled off the couch.

Whether we like it or not, our brains are scanning.

What matters here is not perfection. And it’s definitely not “gaming the system.”

Most people I work with say the same thing: “I just want to be me. I want to feel authentic.” I get that. I want that too.

But here’s the reframe I care about:

How do we show up as the best version of ourselves, not a different version?

There’s a woman I studied under for years, Kathy Kramer, whose life’s work was leadership presence. She used to say that facts and figures are about 7% of our impact. The other 93%? Story, tone, body language, facial expression, energy.

I've read a number of studies that all try to calibrate the 'worth' of non-verbal communication and impact. They all differ a bit in terms of what they are precisely trying to measure.

The point is this: it’s a big number. Bigger than most of us give credit to.

We spend so much time preparing what we’re going to say: our resume, our talking points, our slides.  There is an additional opportunity to differentiate in how we show up. That’s where presence lives. That’s where trust gets built.

And especially now - when hiring, leadership conversations, and influence happen over video - presence isn’t optional. It’s the stage.

~DM me if you would like help with this.

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Warmly,

Eve E.