I once taught a business class in South Korea on Power Point presentations; the students were mid-level managers at LG and were slated for fast-track advancement within their relative departments. Each of my twelve students had to create an original Power Point presentation on the topic of their choice. The most interesting by far came from the youngest student in the class; his Power Point presentation was what amounted to a comparison-contrast presentation. 

The topic? Which of two girls he should marry. His side-by-side comparison was more than a little crude. He compared each of the women on a series of characteristics and labeled them as “Girl A” and “Girl B.” Each candidate for marriage had a picture accompanying his lists. 

He was completely honest, which made the presentation a bit painful to watch. Included in his requirements were: weight, height, age, wealth, interests, personality, and intelligence. I can’t remember exactly how he rated them, but I believe it was on a scale of one to ten with an explanation. 

Each slide contained a picture of both girls and a comparison of one of the points, which as I said above, was absolutely brutal. The entire class, learned for example, that “Girl A” weighed four kilos more than “Girl B,” but that “Girl B” came from a wealthier family and was three years younger than “GIrl A.” We all watched and learned as much as we could about his two potential wives. The best (and possibly the most painful) part of the presentation was when he asked the class and I what we thought about each of the women. 

In a perfect world, he would have decided for himself. And maybe he already had. But his presentation brought up some interesting points about how we think of our potential partners. 

What’s the most important thing to look at when choosing a partner? And how much weight should we put on the opinion of our family and friends? (Or in the case of my student, how much credence should we give to the opinions of people that we hardly know?)

And was his Power Point presentation as bad as I thought it was? Or do we all do the same thing when choosing a future partner? Do we all make little checklists in our head and make point-by-point comparisons of different partners and rank them based on what’s most important?

How about you?