Business Casual

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have very little or no influence on society."...Mark Twain

Until the early to mid '90's, the boundaries between work and after-work fashion were clear and distinct: executive attire at the office, casual attire at home. As Exhibit #1, check out Ward Cleaver's fashion sense... and the obvious delineation between home and office.

During the last decade, contemporaneous with the dot-com era, the attitudes towards work attire changed. The dot-com phenomenon allowed workers to say, "It isn't how you dress, it's what you do that really determines how successful a business is." Ideas and creative thinking supplanted structure and tradition.

These days, many people in the workplace don't know the difference between a dress code and a zip code.

Without bemoaning the decline in workplace dress standards, The Prospecting Professor asks these questions:

• Have you ever felt that you had to apologize to a client or prospect for your casual dress?
• When you dress down, do you feel that you lose some professional credibility?
• Have you become a casualty of too much casualness?

If so, you might consider re-evaluating your wardrobe. The reality is that your clothes, appearance, and grooming really are the packaging of your own personal brand.

In the opinion of 'personal branding' maven, Lesley Everett, first impressions are formed within 15-30 seconds upon first meeting someone. Thereafter, it takes as much as 20 different impressions to alter the effect of the impression of the first meeting.

It wasn't so long ago that folks dressed up to take an airplane trip. Imagine that! Today, airline travel is more a case of  "where the uncomfortable are fed the inedible by the indifferent."

For those of us who interact with clients and prospects on a frequent basis, it is indisputable that they (clients/prospects) make judgements about us on the basis of our personal image. In today's image-conscious and visual world, this is an unavoidable truth. Since, our values, strengths, motivators, drivers and beliefs are being extrapolated from our dress, appearance, voice, body indicators, behavior and attitude...this should give us pause.

However, the good news is that we can control many aspects of what others see in us. Of course, if we project an image of ourselves that is false, we will be 'caught' rather quickly. On the other hand, if our 'personal brand' portrays our genuine uniqueness and individuality, that's the important element.

Speaking of the portrayal of false images, and looping back to the Ward Cleaver reference...remember Eddie Haskell, "That's a lovely dress you're wearing Mrs. Cleaver"? You knew that Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver were completely attuned to Eddie's two-faced demeanor.

Developing a consistent 'personal brand' is one thing. Duplicitous superficiality is another.