Back in 1975, John T. Molloy wrote a book titled Dress for Success. For many companies, the suggestions in the book made it into company dress code policy and was the image for how the company wanted its employees to present themselves to their customers. While I believe in a good presentation, and certainly first impressions do influence potential clients, I believe in a more practitioner-oriented approach to dress code.
Now that I’m semi-retired, my dress code compliance may have dropped off slightly. However, I do believe how you look does influence others until you have been around enough for them to know “actions speak louder than words.” Or in this case, actions speak louder than the clothes you wear. So before I offer up my dress code guidelines (DCG), let me first share with you the fine print at the bottom of my dress code manual: I’m color blind, so you need a significant other who shares in your professional image belief to help you navigate through all the colors that are available in clothing today.