I do have to disagree with you on that last point. I don’t think people should have to change industries because of the industry’s image. What if your friend loves trading, but is only doing tech because the image suits him better. Is that right? Should he not be able to do what he loves rather than be forced to do something else because the image of what he loves makes him uncomfortable?

Feel free to start a new comment thread haha. It’s true, this is a very complex issue that is hard to really deliberate in text.

And because I wear a suit for the financial industry, people might judge me as greedy, a crook, an all around evil person or just a “clone” as Anita says. But I don’t care. If I did, I would choose a place of work, a career, or a society that met my needs – made me feel comfortable.

If you were personally judged by your look then you don’t want to be in that company or industry. No one is saying you have to stay.

You’re right everyone should be able to wear what they want such that it aligns with who they are. And they can do that today… Nothing stops them. And it is wrong to judge a book by it’s cover – especially when the cover was not a choice they could make. But you need to use macro observations to make micro decisions.

It’s actually a very complex issue that’s hard to resolve in my lenghty ramblings alone.

For what it’s worth, I think you’re quite the “professional” and i have no idea what clothes you wear or whether you have good grooming habits.

Great topic! Awesome conversation! Keep it up!

I think we’re tired of being clones from a model that’s broken. The corporate look is just an external embodiment of what’s broken, at the core.

So the real issue is how do we fix the core. Not an easy task. So we rebel against the corporate look.

I’ve met enough genuine, compassionate people in suits whose conduct is faultless; as well as poseurs who mouth the right anti-authority lingo, and use the emotion for their personal benefit.

My guidelines are to asses:

Is the person responding from a ‘command-control-i win all’ position or ‘lets get this done together and we all win’.

I look for the non-verbal markers. The pro who looks at home in formal clothes because she’s focused on the task at hand. The shifty who divert attention to the inane [e.g. we've always done it this way] to distract from the real issues.

People who look at filling in the hours and others who figure out ways to get work done.

***

Another part of this big change is that our language is still evolving to imbue new meanings or create new words.

Being a through professional is a great compliment – it implies integrity, responsiveness and a commitment to deliver my end of the bargain.

If the old business mentality has permanently damaged the connotations of ‘professional’, its time to create a new language too.

After all, we’re still an evolving species. The cockroach hasn’t evolved much and its been around longer than we have.

Cheers

Anita Lobo

Yes, people have and always will judge others. You are absolutely right.

What should occur though is a shift away from blanket judgments (all business people should wear suits).

Each person should be able to wear and act in a way that aligns with who they are. People will always make they’re own individual judgment. Looking forward to the day when our judgment isn’t determined by “social standards”.

I feel like the bias is just changing now, but there’s still a bias. Before we looked at shirts and ties as more valuable. Now we’re looking at shirts and ties as less trustworthy. Neither are fair judgments.

Perhaps it’s naive to think that people can rely solely on personal judgment without taking into consideration social biases, but that doesn’t mean it’s not right.