Appearance is important in business. It demonstrates respect for the events you attend, the hosts and the industry.
“The way we dress has a remarkable impact on the people we meet professionally or socially and greatly affects how they treat us.”
John T. Molloy
My first job out of college was with Eastman Kodak Company. Back in those days, it wasn’t hard to figure out that wearing a suit to work every day wasn’t just de rigueur, it was required. There was no such thing as casual Friday then, but if you really wanted to push your luck, you might wear a sport coat and tie on days you didn’t have to meet with customers. Whatever the case, the underlying principle was always “Dress for success.”
“Clothes make a statement.” —Mason Cooley
I never had a problem wearing a suit and tie. It made me feel like a grown-up, even when I was a boy. During my years of military service, I had to wear a tie with my dress blues. That was where I learned to tie a Double-Windsor knot in my necktie and to make sure that my shoes were shined before stepping out the door. The GI Bill got me through college and graduate school. Uncle Sam had already made sure I knew how to present a professional appearance when I went looking for a job afterward.
“Like every good man, I strive for perfection and, like every ordinary man, I have found that perfection is out of reach—but not the perfect suit.”
Edward Tivnan
I experienced my first casual Friday after I joined Dataquest. At that time, Dataquest was owned by Dunn & Bradstreet so suits and ties were the uniform of the day. During my four years at Dataquest, we had five different company presidents and just as many U-turns and detours in company strategy. One of the presidents instituted casual Fridays, which allowed us to wear an open collar and no jacket on Fridays. In the early 1990s, the people I worked with seemed to understand the definition and intention of “business casual.” Then one of the many vice presidents who came through the revolving door of Dataquest management decided that if one day of business casual was good, five days of business casual had to be great. Management logic.
While one day of business casual was something manageable, five days of business casual dress led to the inevitable problem of some people pushing the boundaries of acceptable business casual dress. That led to another of our presidents, who happened to be a woman, insisting that we return to suits and ties, the logic being that we had clients coming through the building all the time and she wanted to present a professional appearance. I believe that was one of the few logical management decisions I witnessed during my years at Dataquest.
“Every time a woman leaves something off she looks better, but every time a man leaves something off he looks worse.”
Will Rogers
In 1996, I moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., to take a job with another analyst firm. That’s when I discovered a whole new definition of business casual. I also discovered that not many people in Arizona even know what a suit is, let alone own one. My male co-workers in the office walked around in shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops. My female co-workers would show up for work equally underdressed. I still needed suits and ties to wear to industry conferences and trade shows, but it was clear that a new mode of business dress was on the horizon.
“On the fourth day of telecommuting, I realized that clothes are totally unnecessary.”
Scott Adams (Dilbert)
In 1999, I founded Saddletree Research and I have been an independent analyst since. When I started my business, I wore pressed slacks and shirts, and sometimes even a tie, to my rented office. I must admit that self-employment over the past 16 years has caused my mode of work dress to slip a bit, but I still reach for my jacket and tie when I attend a business function out of the office. That brings me to the point of this column.
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to attend several industry events including vendor-sponsored events and industry conferences and trade shows. The old adage, “Some things never change” applied to a lot of these events, but what has noticeably changed is the way people dress when they attend these events.
“It is always the badly dressed people who are the most interesting.”
Jean Paul Gaultier
I admit that I don’t get out and about as much as I used to, mostly by choice, but when I do go to a business event I still try to dress for business. To me that means a jacket and tie and, as Uncle Sam taught me, polished shoes. It didn’t take long for me to learn that my usual style of dress now makes me a non-conformist—a fashion renegade.
Earlier this year, I was invited to an analyst event by a company that I admire a great deal. The dress code was business casual, which was described in an email detailing the event as something like “nice jeans.” With me, it’s either “nice” or it’s “jeans.” Since jeans are what I wear when I’m taking care of the horses, I had to go with “nice.” When I got to the event I was one of the first to have the opportunity to greet the CEO, who I noticed was wearing jeans and a shirt with tails untucked. I was wearing slacks and a sport coat. Renegade.
Late last year, I attended a big event for analysts, consultants and press sponsored by another large, familiar company. During the presentations it became obvious that the uniform of the day for the sponsoring company’s executives was designer jeans, sport shirt or T-shirt, and a suit jacket. I guessed this was some sort of European fashion that had recently crossed the pond, but to my eye those skinny jeans and T-shirts didn’t look all that great stretched over some of those middle-aged physiques. Post-event, I was in my office one morning skimming through the Financial Times newspaper and came across an article that gave me a bit more information about the jeans-and-suit-jacket fashion statement. Turns out it was indeed a European fashion, but it had peaked about a decade ago. I guess no one will ever accuse those of us in the contact center industry of being too fashion-forward.
“Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.”
Mark Twain
In June, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a very large user group meeting of another company that I greatly respect and admire. While the executives of this company were nicely turned out, the dress of many of the attendees left me speechless. I saw guys going through the buffet dinner line in the dining hall wearing what I swear were swim trunks and sandals. Granted, this was Las Vegas, so I didn’t expect much of a sense of decorum, but at least put some pants on for dinner!
The dress of many of those in the conference sessions over the next two days also made me wonder if they might not have had a mirror in their hotel room. Perhaps skinny jeans and knit shirts and tops should come with a warning label, or at least a weight limit.
One evening, dinner was served poolside and featured plenty of Vegas-style entertainment. The invitation actually specified: “No swim suits.” I wouldn’t have thought that to be necessary, but in hindsight I think it was a good idea. If they hadn’t, I’ll bet there would have been at least one idiot running around in Speedos. Guaranteed to kill anyone’s appetite.
“Every girl crazy ’bout a sharp dressed man.”
ZZ Top
I also visited the Contact Center Week show in Las Vegas in June and saw two of the best-dressed industry guys I’ve seen in a long time. Brian Reijngoud and Kelly Ufkes were visiting the event from The Netherlands, where they both work for the VANAD Group. Not only were they among the few of us actually wearing a jacket, the material for their jackets was made from a composite of photos of what Brian described as, “The company’s most valuable assets. Our agents.”
Take a close look at the picture and you’ll see dozens of faces in the material of their jackets. Those Europeans really know how to make an industry fashion statement.
“Fashion is what you adopt when you don’t know who you are.”
Quentin Crisp
I know that the casual clothes fashion in the tech industries is supposed to be associated with entrepreneurial spirit and conjure up images of Bill Gates and his buddies in a garage inventing the personal computer, but I think we should be over that by now. As far as I’m concerned, sloppy, careless dress at business functions doesn’t say, “I’m a tech guy.” It says, “I don’t care enough about you or this event to bother about my appearance.”
I refuse to be another sheep in jeans and a polo shirt at any business function. If I’m feeling particularly wild, you may find me without a necktie but never without a jacket and polished shoes. I still believe that my appearance makes a statement that indicates my respect for the event, for the industry and for my hosts. I will continue to cling to the belief that appearance is important in business and cling to the hope that one day it won’t be necessary to have to tell people not to wear Speedos to dinner.
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.”
Mark Twain