Who’s looking at you, boss? By Ray A. Smith Eager to move up the corporate ladder? Take note of what the executive suite is wearing. Conventional career wisdom holds that dressing like the boss helps advance one’s career. But sometimes the boss can be hard to emulate. Say, he’s a 6’3” male in a suit and tie and you’re a curvy 5’3” female who prefers dresses. Or maybe she loves brights and you’re more of an earth tones person. On the other hand, you don’t want your looks to be too similar—read Mini-Mi—either. The issue of taking style cues cuts across a range of industries, including ones where there is a leisure component – which can mean separate “boss” styles depending on what day of the week, or time of the day it is. Sarah Cruse “is not a buttoned-up kind of suit person, but there are times she needs to be,” said Marion Gellatly, founder of Powerful Presence, an image-consulting firm in Pebble Beach, Calif. Ms. Gellatly was referring to a long-standing client she has been helping dress a little more executive suite. A few months into a new job as a general manager of a hotel and golf club, Ms. Cruse worried that what she was wearing didn’t properly represent “a high-end corporation” and didn’t look managerial enough. She said she noticed the way one of her higher ups, a woman, and their joint boss, a man, dressed. “She was immaculate in her presentation, always put together,” said Ms. Cruse. “Our boss is an impeccable dresser, whether in a suit, casual jacket, or jeans and a sweater. As a representative of his operation, it was important I learned how to dress the part, while still carrying my own personality.” Ms. Gellatly and Ms. Cruse laid out a plan to shop for colorful and patterned dresses and skirts, but also, to nod to the polished look of her higher ups, neutral jackets she could wear over them, and the occasional suit. The goal was to conform, but in a way that suited her. “[Ms. Cruse] has a lively personality,” said Ms. Gellatly, a former president of the Association of Image Consultants International. “We can’t put her into a conservative suit and have that be authentic to who she is.” Lois Barth, a business and lifestyle coach, offers these tips: “It’s important to retain your own sensibility with clothing, to an extent, while still adjusting to the new boss, depending on who the “boss” is. In other words if it’s a CEO or someone who sets the vision of the company, that’s more of an issue than a middle manager, who is less about the vision and more about the day-to-day carrying out of the vision. You have more wiggle room in honoring what your clothing is with a middle manager.” If the CEO wears a suit, and you are wearing a dress shirt and pants or a dressy blouse and a skirt, “maybe there’s a middle ground of a sports jacket” or blazer, she said. “Adapting and adjusting are important, but not mimicking.” Ms. Barth says you can personalize with accessories. “Maybe there’s a cool scarf you can add to the outfit to keep it you.” If the boss is into bright colors or eclectic accessories and that’s not what you’re into, she said you can dip in rather than dive. “You can go with “alignment attire” where you’re capturing the essence of them, with an artsy tie or a pin that has some color, but not mimicking.” The most important thing is to be comfortable in the look. It shouldn’t feel forced. Find ways to adapt the boss’s style in a way that suits you. Courtesy: blogs.wsj/atwork/2013/07/25/mirroring-the-boss-in-just-the-right-way/?reflink=djm_naukri_career_journal&othersrcp=16418&wExp=N
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 18:37:14 +0000
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