Vistelar Group: Understand and manage your public — and private — personas

Dr. Thompson coined the phrases “Professional Face” and “Personal Face” to distinguish how to interact with people in different aspects of your life.

When we began developing the Verbal Martial Arts program to assist young people manage bullies, we learned that although kids don’t necessary have a Professional Face, they do need a “Public Face” for interacting with people at school and play. Chan Lee describes this in the video above.

In much the same way, adults need a Public Face for dealing with people off work but outside the home. Jack Hoban from the Resolution Group International taught us the importance of the “Family Face” for interacting with our family members.

It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. It’s not a matter being totally professional at work but being able to act differently any other time. We need to act properly while in the public eye – even when not working. And, we need to be considerate of our family when we return home after a bad day at work.

As many professionals have found out the hard way, acting badly in public can have serious consequences for your professional life. In the same way, how you behave once you get home can have serious consequences for your long-term health and well-being. Therefore, we need to emphasize the Professional Face, the Public Face and the Family Face.

In the end, we find out that there is really little room for someone to wear their Personal Face.

Gary Klugiewicz
Director, Verbal Defense & Influence