| | MARCH 20208EXPERTS TALKIn June 2018, Melanie Trump, on her way to a detention cen-ter to meet migrant children forcefully separated from their families because of Trump's im-migration policies, wore a jacket that read `I Really Don't Care, Do U?' 2019, Tesla & SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk stirred-up a hornet's nest by appearing on a podcast while smoking pot, apparently try-ing to impress his girlfriend about taking the company private, but unfortunately officials at SEC and NASA were far from impressed and both agencies ordered an en-quiry against Musk. This comes after his infamous tweet about the British diver during the Thai cave rescue operation. Looks like he needs to design a Tesla to dodge controversies! Closer home, gone are the days of being `politically correct' and we would know many public personalities who failed to hold-on to their horses. Do you think they would have acted any differently if they were advised or their actions monitored by an Im-age consultant? With a growing youth popu-lation, who are more than ever aware about projecting a positive image socially, the importance of Image Consultants has also risen exponentially. While the concept of Image Consultants has been a global phenomenon for many years, its entry into the Indian shores has been a bit late. Image Consultants do help in creating a positive image; however, the role of Image Consultants has grown from being mere advisors on wardrobe choices. They play a critical role in advising their cli-ents on managing media, internal and external stakeholders, to even planning their vacations. In current times, Image Man-agement is all about catching them young. Whether it was SRK's youngest son or Saif-Kareena's son Taimur, Image Consultants are connecting with either the par-ents or the youth, directly prom-ising to support them in creating a socially `positive' image. Gone are the days when we believed that just hard work and skills are enough for success. With constant interaction with different kinds of people, and the advent of so-cial networking platforms where every minute, we are judged and opinions are formed, the focus on Image Management has gained precedence. Today, management professionals are being guided on how to make an effective first impression, appropriate body lan-guage, what to say and how to say to develop them to be industry ready professionals. Image Management generally consists of three aspects ­ What you wear, How you behave, and what you say (or don't say). I would NO SECOND CHANCES IN MAKING A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSIONBy Samir Kalia, CEO & MD, MCI GroupA Commerce graduate from Delhi University, Samir is a serial entrepreneur who has incepted three companies ­ Concorde Travels, GeTS Conferences, and GeTS Holidays ­ so far, and also spearheads the India business of MCI Group.THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
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