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ASCP Esty Talk
Ep 348 – Esty Book Club
00:24:01
What do bestselling books about psychology and human behavior have to do with esthetics? More than you might think! In this episode of ASCP Esty Talk, Ella Cressman and Maggie Staszcuk dive into three of Malcolm Gladwell’s most popular...
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- [00:00]
A
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- [01:26]
B
Hello and welcome to ASCP STTalk. I'm Ella Cressman, licensed esthetician and content contributor for Associated Skincare Professionals.
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C
I am Maggie Stasik, licensed esthetician and ASCP's program director.
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B
Okay, I have a question for you today, Maggie.
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C
Yeah.
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B
What do bestselling books about psychology and human behavior have to do with aesthetics?
- [01:46]
C
Oh, I don't know. Enlighten me Ella.
- [01:49]
B
More than you might think. And so today I want to talk to you about my absolute favorite author, Malcolm Gladwell. Have you read any of his books?
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C
I have not, no.
- [01:59]
B
Well, he's amazing and one of my favorites because he does a lot of observational work. But he's a journalist, author and even a podcaster. And he's really best known for making complex ideas about psychology or sociology and my favorite, human behavior easy to understand. So I love his books for that. He's written several bestselling books in what I like about them is they explore why people think and act the way we do.
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C
Fascinating.
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B
I think if I could take it all back, I would enter into this field, but I think there's so much of this in aesthetics. Also, what Malcolm Gladwell has particularly is this knack for uncovering hidden patterns in everyday life. Challenging really, how we see things like decision making, success and human connection. And it's his insights that, in my opinion give us a fresh lens to look at not just society, but our own industry as estheticians. So if it's okay, I'd like to explore three of these books and I want to encourage you and our listeners to check em out too. But let's highlight A few key points here. So let's talk about talking to strangers. Blink and outliers, and how they can change the way as estheticians we approach clients, consultations, and even our own career growth. Sounds interesting.
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C
It does, yeah.
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B
Okay. My very first Malcolm Gladwell experience was with talking to strangers. And I listened to it on audiobook like it was the never ending story. So I was listening as I was traveling and I couldn't wait to get back to the book. That's how good it is. I would encourage the audiobook format, but the paper book is also great. I've read them both ways. The audiobook particularly, because he's got sound effects and so on. And it really draws you in. This book, the best way to describe it, it's about misreading signals. It explores why humans are so bad at interpreting strangers. So we think about this now. We see a lot of strangers or meet a lot of strangers in our professionals, and we think, well, we can read based on body language or their tone or their perceived confidence, but most of the time we're wrong.
- [04:15]
C
Would you say that's really interesting? I don't know if we are wrong most of the time. I think there are people out there with a lot of emotional intelligence who can read people right or wrong. I'm not sure. And then there are those people that are blind to that.
- [04:34]
B
I think that's true. And I think sometimes we're overconfident or underconfident on both sides. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So in this book particularly, he weaves these real world examples that he presents, like police encounters, espionage cases, and even political scandals. I don't want to ruin the whole plot, but I like to say it's. What does a Cuban spy, an English poet, and a Missouri police officer have in common? It's in this book. Okay. And really what it highlights is how our assumptions fail us. You know what they say about assuming. Yeah. So some of the key themes are a default to truth. People naturally believe that others are telling the truth, which makes us really poor lie detectors. Unless you're me and it's your brother's potential girlfriends, and I think they're all liars. Transparency, illusion. We assume facial expressions or behaviors reveal what someone is really feeling, but often they really don't. Like, for example, nervousness doesn't always mean guilt, right? Yeah. Could just mean you're uncomfortable. And then mismatching problems. When someone's behavior doesn't match what we expect, we can sometimes misinterpret them for that context matters. Without understanding Cultural or situational context. Our judgments about strangers are often inaccurate. And this is really, really important to consider. So basically, the big message of this book, the core concept, is that we're trained to look for tells or patterns, but often we can misinterpret them. Think about aesthetics and how we're trained to look for these patterns or tells and what that could mean, like rosacea or acne or hyperpigmentation, for example. But we need humility and caution when judging or assessing strangers. Instead of jumping to conclusions in real life, we should really slow down, ask better questions, and recognize that the cues that we rely on could be misleading.
- [06:35]
C
This is really interesting because it's specific to strangers, but I think it also applies to the people we know well. And I wonder if even knowing somebody well makes us misread those signals even more.
- [06:52]
B
Ah. Like a client that we've had for a long time. Yeah.
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C
You know, because we develop our ideas of who those people are, and clients especially, we develop ideas of who we believe those people to be. And in truth, it's only what those clients are allowing us to know.
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B
Right.
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C
You know, and so more than anything, we have missed perceptions or misconceptions of who our clients are in the life that they lead because they've opened the door only slightly.
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B
Or who they hang out with.
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C
Right.
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B
I had a client, a referred client, who was referred from this client. And this client that referred her is like that one, that one that wants to know everything about every product but then goes and buys it on the Internet or something else, you know, this client came in, she wanted a particular service. It was microneedling. I talked through it with her and wanted to assess if she was a good candidate. She was talked about home care, but I assumed because she's friends with the one who referred her, that she was gonna wanna be doing her own research. She didn't wanna feel sold to. So I undersold to her. I didn't rebook her appointment. She didn't walk away with any retail. And I'm like, she left. And I was like, oh, so it happens all the time. But I completely misread the situation. So I think it's important to not assume that anything really, but especially in the treatment room. One of the biggest, I guess, assumptions we make is like, causation, like acne, for example, we spoke about in our Emotions podcast, the effect anger or grief can have on the skin and how treating it in a certain way might not be as effective. So the important part of this book, read it. Listen to it, whatever. But the takeaway is don't make assumptions. And also sometimes our training doesn't lead us the way we're supposed to go.
- [08:52]
C
I think it's easy too, just to not read our client at all and go into the space again with our assumptions. Or we're not even thinking about who's on the table in front of us and moving forward with the treatment as we know it and ignoring who that client is and performing it like we have always done time and time again.
- [09:14]
B
Yes. And maybe it's not the right thing. Yeah, I think Rosacea is a great example of that. A lot of brands will do or provide a rosacea protocol or have rosacea products, but that is one condition that is so unique to each person. The triggers are different, the treatment path is different, the response is different. So that is one great. Yeah. Good. Awesome. So check out that book. You're going to love it. The next one is another great one. This is one I just finished. It's called Blink. And it really has to do with the powers and pitfalls of something that he calls thin slicing. Have you ever heard of thin slicing before?
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C
No.
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B
So it's basically snap judgments. How we're taking these lightning fast decisions and our brains are making very permanent assumptions based on limited information. Sometimes these thin slicing opportunities are surprisingly accurate, which the book explores. And then other times it can really lead us astray. So it starts out with a sociologist, I believe, who was studying marriages and thin slicing different opportunities and predicting divorce or not. So that's really fascinating. And then it ends up going into other areas where that same thought of thin slicing is applied to other industries and how it didn't work in other instances, but it was built on training and other aspects. I don't want to ruin it, but it was really, really good. So this thin slicing, our ability to make quick judgments from small slices of information, like having someone walk into your shop or your studio and then instantly sizing them up, oh, they have this kind of bag, they're wearing this kind of clothes. I'm going to sell them this, for example. And then the power of the unconscious, which is much of decision making happens here outside of our awareness. And then the intuition pulls from our experience. So that was something to explore, particularly thinking about aesthetics, intuitively showing up without being aware. Oh, I, you know, I think I know how to go in this way. And then when it works and when it fails, how these quick judgments can be brilliant when rooted in expertise like there. It actually starts out with this evaluation of a very Very potentially expensive and rare piece of art. And how five people said, yes, it's authentic, and one person was like, no, it just doesn't feel right. It just doesn't feel right. So how those kind of quick judgments can be powerful but also dangerous when clouded by bias or stereotypes. And then it talks about the balance of having these snap judgments that are powerful tools, but how they need to be balanced with reflection and structured decision making. And this made me think of what we talk about often, and that is consultation. Not just initial consultation, but ongoing consultation. So the core concept of this book, or the takeaway, is that our brains make snap judgments, like, in seconds. That's the thin slicing. But this book shows that intuition isn't just gut feeling. It's your brain processing years of experience in seconds. But if you uncheck it, it can also reinforce bias and lead to big mistakes.
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C
This is really interesting. So this is basically saying don't judge a book by its cover.
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B
Yes.
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C
It makes me think of this client. Years and years ago. This was, like, 20 years ago. I worked at a place where there was this client who. She was well known throughout the spa. Like, when she comes in, she is spending thousands. And if you're lucky enough to have this client, you know, we all worked on commission. She is going to have multiple treatments. And in addition, you are so lucky because every time she is buying out the spa in retail.
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B
Mm.
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C
And when this client walks through the door, she doesn't look it. She has no makeup, her hair is like a rat's nest. She's wearing sweats. So if you were not given the backstory on this woman and you're making that snap judgment, you may fail to retail to her or upsell to her and miss out on what she intends to spend.
- [13:34]
B
Yes. Oh, yeah. So what would you say? What would be the fix for practitioners? Would they need to assume they're all getting that client who's gonna spend a lot?
- [13:43]
C
I mean, yeah, maybe. Maybe also just remove the bias from your mind. And, you know, we've talked in retail pods, for instance, that don't assume what your client can and cannot spend. You know, they're coming to the spa, they're coming to see you and know your worth, know your knowledge.
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B
Mm.
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C
Believe in the product you're selling. Don't look at the dollars and cents.
- [14:09]
B
That's what happened to me, is I made a snap judgment based on my experience with somebody else, and I failed. Yesterday, had another client come in, full consultation. You can tell she was locked and loaded to be sold. To. And she had her defenses ready to go. She wanted to counterpoint everything, and I could recognize that immediately. So that was based on my experience. I also saw she had really vascular rosacea. She was overeducated. Like, a lot of clients are in the world of over the counter stuff, which is not bad. But she, she. You know what she said, it was interesting. I was like, oh, I gotta tell Maggie. She said, it's hard to decipher through all of these medical proven or medically proven, clinically excellent products. And all of this must have ingredients and what I really need. And I was all, bam, there it is. There's my door. Yeah, I get it, I get it. You know, so let's do a skincare audit for you. I didn't sell her anything. I did sample her, which I used to be so against sampling, but I did sample her one product after she saw her face and she was like, oh, my gosh. We did the whole service, we did the treatment, she softened. She can tell I wasn't trying to sell to her, even though I was. But I wasn't trying to sell to her to make money necessarily, but to make a difference. Right. I know she's going to be back, and I know she's going to buy $140 cream, and I know she's going to buy it because I planted the little seeds of this is why you need it. It's multifactorial, and I made it all about her. But it was interesting, right? Yeah. So using a little bit of intuition, a little bit of thin slicing is important, except for. I mean, especially because we have these opportunities when we're seeing clients, we think, oh, they. They're not gonna wanna come back because they're. The vibe they give off initially, they're not gonna buy anything. But if we can shift those inner conversations or those thin slicing to make it different, right?
- [16:05]
C
Mm.
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B
Yeah. So this book particularly, I would say you can listen to it on audiobook or get it in paper. There's some parts that are really slow, but the takeaway is really great when we're thinking about what we do and how we interact with our clients specifically, or even like our product reps or our educators or our peers. Thinking about that is awesome. The last book that I wanted to talk to you about is called Outliers. I think you might have heard about this, even though you might not have read it, but really, this book is about being in the right place at the right time. So I wanted this to be part of our. If you Will book club. Our Malcolm Gladwell fan club. Book club. Because it's really important. When we think of the space, we see a lot of people saying oh the in the industry is saturated or I can't make it or my hustle and my grind. All the things that we've talked about before. Maybe people are implementing them but they're not having the same successes. This book is insightful and I. And there's a couple reasons in this book particularly Malcolm talks about what makes high achievers different. And here's the thing that I was like, yes, it's not just talent. You can be the most talented esthetician in XYZ City in ABC State and you could still not be an influencer with a lot of followers. Right. His theory is that success is a mix of hard work. Check. We all do that. Timing. Interesting point. Opportunity and cultural background. I love this book. I love this book on audio. I also got it in paperback and read it because he challenges this myth of the self made individual that if you just put your nose to the grindstone that you're going to be successful. And he shows how these other external factors play a huge role. Have you ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule? No. He's the one that came up with that. I wish you said yes, but yes, basically he came up with it. It's 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything. That mastery comes from thousands of hours of practice and not just instant genius. That timing matters. Being born in the right year or starting a career in the right moment really can shape opportunities. We see this specifically with corporate lawyers. He'll talk about that and then opportunities and access. Success stories that are built on access to training, mentorship and resources where that others may not have. In this one particularly, he's talking about Bill Gates and then cultural legacy. Our backgrounds, family, culture, community shape how we think, how we learn and how we succeed. The core concept of this book is that it reminds us that success is rarely a solo act. It's a combination of individual effort, cultural context and being positioned to seize opportunities when they appear. And this reminded me of the rise of influencers around 2020 when everyone's looking at their screen. Sure there were some ahead of that, but really 2020, 2021 we saw the social media influencers really blow up. Or TikTok influencers really blow up. That's a great example of being in the right time of the right place at the right time. So it's not just talent, it's opportunity that this person had time to create content because they weren't necessarily seeing clients at the time. And then people were in front of their screens. Or estheticians who jumped in early to brow shaping or lash lifts or LED therapy. How they gained this reputation. Interesting how we could reframe like that 10,000 hour rule building expertise, the consistent practice, but also how we have to be in the right environment. So for me, my career, I could be the most successful esthetician in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. That's where I started out. But my path has led me to really great interactions that have elevated me or opened doors that I wouldn't. You know, like writing for Skin Deep magazine, for example. Being on this podcast, for example, being an international educator has opened doors, doors for me that I wouldn't have normally, but it was being in the right place and knowing the right people.
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C
So I'm hearing two things. First, it's early adopters, people who became influencers, or they jumped on the bandwagon for modalities, for instance, or opportunities that were new. And second, they were a yes man. They said yes to all the opportunity that was presented in front of them rather than saying no, I'm not sure. Or maybe that's not for me.
- [20:53]
B
Yeah, they created. They weren't, I don't want to say fearless. They always also created something. They made a path in this environment and there's such an opportunity for that. Let's go back to the 1980s with the J sisters and the Brazilian waxing. That wasn't a thing before. Now it's major lash lifting. Wasn't a thing until somebody created that process. So trying to be the best at what we already know is great, but why not try to think of something else? There's always something else in this space. Whether it's educating a new modality, creating a new modality. I took this class, it's called Katona Yoga. So it's yoga, right? But they've adjusted it to reflect sacred geometry and all these other things. They've adopted it from this place in New York. Now it's in Denver, Colorado, and they're making it their own here too. It'll morph and do its thing, but it's going to be, I don't know, they say the next big thing, but you know what I mean? Like, it's something so differentiating yourself and not being afraid and then putting yourself in those positions will be key. Putting yourself in the right place at the right time, not being afraid to do that. And it doesn't necessarily mean putting yourself on TikTok. Or Instagram. Think outside of that box because we have, we have that already. So anyways, this book, really, really good. Makes you think about a lot of different scenarios. It can also make you go, well, that's it, there's nothing left for me. But if you, if you, I challenge you to think about it in a different way of what else can you do? I mean, look at your career path. Even you were an esthetician, you were a director of education for a school. That was really cool. And now you're the program director for Associated Skincare Professionals. That's cool. Those are, those are not necessarily a normal career path. That's awesome.
- [22:40]
C
Thanks, Ella.
- [22:41]
B
Yeah, but I don't think you guys are hiring, right? I'm just kidding. I'm just saying, like opening your mind to the possibilities, you can make a real difference. Well, you do, but people listening can make a real difference. So I strongly encourage you to check out these books. But mostly I want you to consider. You too, Maggie. I want you to consider these three key points. Think about your next consultation. Are you seeing what's really there or what you expect to see? That's key. Number two, where might your instincts be spot on. And where might you need more information and don't be afraid to ask. And number three, and most importantly, what opportunities can you position yourself for this ever evolving industry? Now, listeners, we really wanna hear from you. What's one takeaway from today's episode? Are you going to download these books on your audible, Reach out via Instagram, Facebook or send us an email@getconnectedscpskincare.com we want to know all the detail. In the meantime, thank you for listening to ASCP STT Talk. For more information on this episode or for ways to connect with Maggie or myself, or to learn more about ascp, check out the show notes and stay tuned for the next episode of ASCP STTalk.