A lifetime ago I stopped by a tailor’s shop for a fitting. I was recovering from the flue, having been away from work for several days. Given my only reason to come in the city was for this visit, I had no plans to meet or see anyone professionally.
“What are you doing in the city dressed like this?”
As I looked at my clean crisp jeans, long sleeve shirt, and casual shoes, “Like what?”
“My rule for all my customers is that you are always professional in the city. Translated – suit, tie, crisp and starched shirt, and professional shoes.”
His words have stayed with me for well past a decade. When working, be professional, always! I took his advice to mean that there is a specific time and place for everything, including the ways one is attired and behaves.
As I worked recently with a group of investors on one of my start-ups, the feedback came back that I was too “corporate.” I had no idea what that meant, so I asked. I was told that it started with the way that I dressed – to formal and buttoned down. From the feedback, my rhetoric and approach to details followed fit the description as well!
In a spirit of learning, I have opened my eyes to dress and rhetoric. Observations include the following.
Definitions of what is professional may look different, but at the core, they are the same. Modest, fitting, and functional are key. While externals have dramatically expanded, suits only is now completed by trousers and shirts of all types, the essential elements remain.
When and where one works has changed. Conference rooms and offices have moved into coffee shops, open spaces, and venues of all types. The idea that one must have the trappings to be professional has been replaced by the ideas and actions one brings to the table.
In the end, today is a play on a psalm; “Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got – wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.” (Psalm 111.01)
