Of course, not EVERYTHING. But important enough to talk about.
Perception gets your cold call answered.
Perception wins you a job.
Perception begets you public’s vote.
Check out two different versions of the cover image of the book ‘Seven Years in Tibet’.
Which of the cover images make you think that the author might have been to Tibet?
Of course the left one. You don’t even need to think about choosing the left-hand side book cover.
Our brains use the shorthand. An algorithm. It decides which one seems genuine.
The cover designer knew about our mental algorithm and was able to evoke the perception of genuineness.
It is a mistake to think that perception is limited to the field of design.
Consider this: you start walking with your chest straight and shoulders back. Yes, a tweak in your posture. People will perceive you as more dominant, confident, aggressive etc. Depending on your expressions.
If you can control the perception about yourself using a small tweak in your body language, imagine what conscious and unconscious signals would be at play in forming a perception.
Not only perception about you, but your product, competence, brand, quality and commitment.