The God of Fortune came knocking and gave me a fortune cookie. It read, “Judge not according to the appearance 😉”
Like, seriously. I felt like the fortune cookie is scolding me. I mean, I am in the business of judging people for the past odd 20 years after all so it’s like an occupation hazard for me. Every day, I take a look at someone’s CV, I judge whether I want to take a step further to call. I speak to the person, I judge whether I want to take one step further to meet. I meet the person, I further judge whether I want to extend an offer. So it’s definitely not an easy task to not to judge.
However, what I have learnt over the years, if we really need to judge, we should judge with empathy. Don’t jump to conclusions quickly. Take a moment to understand why the person did what he did. Understand why the person said what he said. Understand why the person looked the way he did.
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, people say. Because looks can be deceiving too after all. Well, I am not saying appearance is not important. Looking the part also conveys the message of respect, that we took the effort to show up. Just that perhaps we need judge smartly.
I have too. It’s a message from the God of Fortune in a Fortune Cookie no less after all.
“Judge not according to the appearance 😉”
