Do Not Confuse Individuality with Stupidity


Everyone feels a need to express his or her own individuality. But there are a lot of ways to express your individuality without adverse professional ramifications. You should never risk your career advancement in the name of some bizarre form of personal self-expression.

The vast majority of top professionals do not like tattoos, nose rings, or purple hair. As Dave Ruf, CEO of Burns & McDonnell, put it, "If a guy comes in here with a ponytail and earrings, he starts in a hole with me." It is not worth risking your career over such superficial expressions of individuality. Think about it. Shouldn't individuality be about deeper characteristics than a piece of metal on your tongue? Never stand on principle over petty appearance issues at the workplace. If glittered blue hair is the only way you have to express yourself, then you are not making much of a personal statement anyway. Anyone can do that.

Save most of your individual expression for activities outside the workplace. I know lawyers who jam with their electric guitars at home at night. I am one of them. Mike Marks, one of Boeing's senior managers, is a true-believing biker—he hobnobs with the motorcycle crowd on the weekends and then sells F-15s to Korea during the week. In most circumstances, there are better times and better places to express your individuality than at the office.

If you want to put some personal imprimatur on the office, take those elements that separate you from others and turn them into a professional plus. One of my acquaintances is a successful woman lawyer who wears interesting jewelry from her extensive world travels—Nigeria, Tibet, Korea, etc. This jewelry enhances her professional image because it shows that she has seen a lot of cultures and that she exhibits curiosity about the world around her. I know a successful professional, Paul Weil, whose avocation is photography. He takes great pictures and has blown up several of them and put them in the office. What it tells his clients is that he has a keen eye for detail. Norma Clayton of Boeing always puts a little of her favorite soft blue color scheme in her office. "I like warmth, and blue is a very warm color," notes Clayton.

This type of personal expression is fine, and is often helpful to a professional image. In fact, Norma Clayton noted the importance of staying attuned to the personal and office appearance of others with whom you work. If, for example, you walk into someone's office and you see "animal figurines with inspirational expressions" around them, "don't tell that person that you are going hunting this weekend," Clayton quipped. You not only have to make your careful expressions of personality at the workplace, but you have to look around and see what others are saying about themselves as well.

Which brings us to another point. Personal appearance includes not only yourself and your clothes, but also your office. I conducted most of the interviews for this book in the offices of the interviewees. Every one of them had a neat, well-organized office. A disorganized office sends the wrong professional message—and it can cause a lot of professional headaches as well. Some people take pride in the piles of paper on their chairs and boxes of junk on their floors. But have you ever noticed that those people are never at the top of the organization chart? Keep your desk neat and your chairs free of papers.




Staying Power. 30 Secrets Invincible Executives Use for Getting to the Top - and Staying There
Staying Power : 30 Secrets Invincible Executives Use for Getting to the Top - and Staying There
ISBN: 0071395172
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 174

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