There are plenty of dress for success books and blogs out there, so I am not using this time to become the fashion police. What I am saying is that if you are looking to get ahead, you should at least dress the part. You may or may not want to hear this, but it matters, and it matters more than you think. One of my most valuable mentors imparted a pearl of wisdom to me and I have never wavered since and it pays huge dividends in unseen ways. He called me into his office one day and said, “Chuck, you are a manager now and I expect you to not only act like it but I expect you to look like it. I want to see you come in each day, at a minimum, in a shirt and tie.”
I had been very used to coming in with khakis and one of my favorite parrot-head shirts until then and I was a bit confused. I asked him why the sudden change. His answer kind of threw me for a loop. “Chuck, no one is going to ask you to crawl under their desk to hook up a cable when you’re wearing a tie. They’ll ask you if you could get someone on your team to do it.” Here’s the thing, he wasn’t wrong. I went to a store near the house that weekend and picked up some slacks, shirts, ties, and a couple of blazers. I really wasn’t ready for a suit and as a low-level manager, I didn’t see the point at the time. Come Monday, I wore them in. After the laughter died down with my staff, who had never seen me dress “so formally”, I went off on my daily rounds of checking in with my customers.
On that very first day, as I walked down the hall, one of the department heads saw me coming and jumped out to let me know they had an issue getting their workstation to come up. I swear to you that the first thing he said was “Can you help me fix this Chuck? Wait. You’re a manager, can you expedite someone from your team to get on this quickly?” Literally on the first day.
I get that when you are tech, you must haul gear, pull wire, haul gear, etc. and walking around in a suit while doing that is not exactly a very sensible way of doing things. Even a supervisor at a small organization must do the grunt work, so it makes sense to work in work clothes. But let’s get one thing straight; faded Levi’s and a Margaretville shirt does not constitute work clothes. Yes, I used to belong to that club, way back when, but as you now know, a mentor finally pulled me aside and straightened me out. Khaki’s and a collared shirt that looks professional are work clothes for an IT Tech, but once you start your way up, dress the part.
Once you are spending more time at your desk than you are in the field, then you need to be wearing, at a minimum, slacks with a dress shirt and a tie for the men and/or the appropriate equivalent for the women in the ranks. You heard me right, I said a tie. You can use the tie to rebel back to your parrot-head-wearing shirt days by wearing ties by Jerry Garcia like I do (please tell me you know who he and The Grateful Dead are, or I am going to feel very old), but wear a tie and wear it daily. Keep a nice blazer at the ready for the times you are called to an important meeting, the front office, or when a VIP visitor is in your area.
Once you have crossed over the mid-level management threshold, then you need to be coming to work in a suit or dress slacks and a blazer for men, or the appropriate equivalent for women. You heard me. You are not pulling wire anymore and in case you’ve forgotten, you are a business professional. Here is what happens when you do. People will actually talk to you and not at you. Many of you know exactly what I’m talking about. Let’s be straight up; at the management levels in our field you are getting paid the kind of salary that warrants you wear the type of business attire that comes with that paycheck. So, for Pete’s sake, start dressing and acting like it. Take the advice or don’t, but you’ll thank me if you do.