Tie me up (Week 9)
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
I'm sure Mark Twain was thinking about women, too, when he offered his wit on the subject of clothing. So, in the week of International Women's Day, let's start by agreeing that this is a universal truth. Or is it?
This week's resolution was part social experiment to see how differently I would feel, and how differently I would be treated, if I wore a tie every day of the week.
For some people, this is no biggie. They dress up every day. But my job at Benevity is not like that. Hey, this is the software biz. If If I wear a tie to work, I will be the only one in a company of 500, and that includes a CEO who describes himself as a "recovering lawyer." If I wore a Sex Pistols t-shirt and pink bunny slippers, nobody would bat an eye. Put on a tie, and suddenly eyebrows are raised everywhere.
I started counting the number of times co-workers said "Job interview?" but lost track after a dozen. They probably really wanted to say "Funeral?" but clearly nobody wants to go there. When it became obvious on Day 2 that this wasn't a one-and-done thing, I think they just thought I was trying to class the place up a bit.
Something I definitely discovered during the week was a change in self-perception. On my 20-minute walk to work, I noticed right away that there was more of a confident strut in my stride. I think this is what Psychology Today refers to as "embodied cognition" which is basically the idea that physical experiences affect the way our brain works, and that includes how we dress ourselves.
So there I was, strutting into the sandwich shop at noon one day looking for the end of the lineup. It was like watching the seas part. Two people who had clearly arrived in the shop before me ushered me to a spot in front of them. And it wasn't an age/respect thing, because they outscored me on that count. Throughout the week, most strangers I met seemed to treat me with the same air of "oooh, you might actually be somebody." Little did they know!
I should also mention the appreciation I got on the home front. Val's a traditional girl who likes to see her gent decked out in some finery. I seriously think she'd be okay with me buying a top hat. She was clearly overjoyed to see me fastening that tie every morning, and I might just surprise her from time to time, just to re-capture that look on her face.
If this were a longer term experiment, and if I were in a different business, and if I were 20 years younger, and if this was 1986, I might dig deeper into the advice from Men's Health. I'd be really curious to see if my clothes could result in a 5% pay increase, simply from "having a style kit in my cubicle."
As it is, I'm just looking forward to being comfortable again.
NEXT WEEK: No social media!
I'm sure Mark Twain was thinking about women, too, when he offered his wit on the subject of clothing. So, in the week of International Women's Day, let's start by agreeing that this is a universal truth. Or is it?
This week's resolution was part social experiment to see how differently I would feel, and how differently I would be treated, if I wore a tie every day of the week.
For some people, this is no biggie. They dress up every day. But my job at Benevity is not like that. Hey, this is the software biz. If If I wear a tie to work, I will be the only one in a company of 500, and that includes a CEO who describes himself as a "recovering lawyer." If I wore a Sex Pistols t-shirt and pink bunny slippers, nobody would bat an eye. Put on a tie, and suddenly eyebrows are raised everywhere.
I started counting the number of times co-workers said "Job interview?" but lost track after a dozen. They probably really wanted to say "Funeral?" but clearly nobody wants to go there. When it became obvious on Day 2 that this wasn't a one-and-done thing, I think they just thought I was trying to class the place up a bit.
Something I definitely discovered during the week was a change in self-perception. On my 20-minute walk to work, I noticed right away that there was more of a confident strut in my stride. I think this is what Psychology Today refers to as "embodied cognition" which is basically the idea that physical experiences affect the way our brain works, and that includes how we dress ourselves.
So there I was, strutting into the sandwich shop at noon one day looking for the end of the lineup. It was like watching the seas part. Two people who had clearly arrived in the shop before me ushered me to a spot in front of them. And it wasn't an age/respect thing, because they outscored me on that count. Throughout the week, most strangers I met seemed to treat me with the same air of "oooh, you might actually be somebody." Little did they know!
I should also mention the appreciation I got on the home front. Val's a traditional girl who likes to see her gent decked out in some finery. I seriously think she'd be okay with me buying a top hat. She was clearly overjoyed to see me fastening that tie every morning, and I might just surprise her from time to time, just to re-capture that look on her face.
If this were a longer term experiment, and if I were in a different business, and if I were 20 years younger, and if this was 1986, I might dig deeper into the advice from Men's Health. I'd be really curious to see if my clothes could result in a 5% pay increase, simply from "having a style kit in my cubicle."
As it is, I'm just looking forward to being comfortable again.
NEXT WEEK: No social media!
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