The importance of presentation
Last week, I was amused to see a T-shirt with “Trop Fatiguée” written on it. The T-shirt displayed two lines. The first line was in big prints while the second line was smaller than the one used above it. As a result, the first line was easy to view, while the second one was difficult to read without committing a faux pas in a professional environment. In case you are wondering the word”Trop Fatiguée,” it is French meaning very tired. A few days later, I bumped into the same T-shirt again. On this occasion, I successfully read the second line without embarrassing myself or irking others. The second line was “except for parties.” So the statement spread across two rows were “Trop Fatiguée except for parties.” It made me wonder about a principle we tend to overlook — the dress code.
While we are on the subject of dress code, it is essential to understand the difference between a dress code and a uniform. A uniform is a distinctive outfit which helps you to stand out, for instance, the ones worn by soldiers, airplane cabin crew, etc. Compare to a uniform, the dress code is not specific but a set of guidelines on what to wear for a particular occasion. For the sake of simplicity, a dress code should cater to two aspects at least. The first one is the comfort of the wearer, and the second one is the image to be projected. Now, let me connect the second aspect of a dress code to the meaning of the sentences printed on the T-shirt. Do you want to advertise yourself as a tired person? If this issue at hand is about mental well-being, there are other ways to address it, and you should discuss it immediately. For now, I will sidestep the topic of psychological well-being, without trivializing it and examine why we need to project the right image in a professional environment.
While working in the Silicon Valley many years ago, I was surprised when a business acquaintance talked about a business suit in his car. I was contracting at his firm in the Valley, and he always turned up wearing shorts to work. But he always carried his business suit in his car and quickly changed into the same whenever there was a customer meeting. I didn’t have to ask any questions to make sense of his statement. He was into business development. As part of his responsibilities, he met many customers in the Valley. He wanted to give the right impression to his customers. He wanted his customer to know that he was perfectly capable of handling their business. No matter how liberal we are, we still might hesitate before writing a big check to someone. At that time, various thoughts would cross our mind, and the appearance is one of them. If a person can’t take good care of themselves, how are they going to take care of the money entrusted to them? It is a straightforward and simple question. And this is a question we conveniently forget when we rummage through our wardrobe.
In the preceding section, I used the term “writing a big check.” In the work environment, we are always writing checks in one way or another. The checks are not necessarily the one with a monetary value. All of us make numerous decisions in a day’s work after weighing the pros and cons. By making a decision, we are writing a check. We are also siding ourselves with the outcome of the decision; mostly gravitating to the positive result. Most of these decisions are related to humans. When it comes to humans, how will anyone make a choice? They will look at two things — experience and potential. The experience will provide a glimpse of the possible, and it will also help you establish credibility to what claim your potential is. But when it comes to potential, the decision will involuntarily measure you on how you present yourself? In such a case, do you want to announce yourself as “Trop Fatiguée?”
Photo Courtesy: Gideon
