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Dimensions
The great good news about appearance is that it’s much less important than gravitas or communication skills, and I think all of us like that because, clearly, we want to be judged by the quality of our minds, our communication skills, and our ability to impact this world. But here’s the thing with appearance, leaders speak out of two sides of their mouths. On the one hand, they say, “In anything like the long run, appearance doesn’t matter too much.” It’s just seven percent of the action. And the figures are really very modest. But then they also say, “Hey guys, it’s the first filter.” And you only get to make that first impression once. So, for instance, if a woman dresses in a sexually provocative way, and that’s the number one blunder according to leaders, she’s off the list. No matter what her gravitas is or what her communication skills are, they won’t even be assessed. So it’s as though appearance has to be dealt with enough to clear the bar, and then it doesn’t matter much.
So what is the bar? And here, it’s fascinating, there really were only two topics because nothing else mattered too much.
Overwhelmingly, leaders and colleagues said, “You need to have a certain amount of polish. You have to be well put together.“ The grooming thing has to happen pretty well. It doesn’t matter so much the size of your body or the texture of your hair, but you’ve got to look as though I can take you into any meeting any time and you’re going to look appropriate. Now, obviously, what is appropriate varies depending on corporate culture, but they all have their rules. It is about figuring out what your culture sees as being cool, being the right fit, and trying pretty hard to hit that.
The second big pick in appearance, and this is interesting, is being fit. Being toned. Looking as though you look after yourself, exercise, stuff like that. So why is that important? Well again, in the interviews, a lot of leaders said, “We need resilient employees.” It’s a bit of a Road Warrior thing that is happening these days with long hour jobs, you know, extreme jobs out there. So looking as though you can climb up two flights of stairs or catch that plane with no problem is good.
Double Standards
The data we have on blunders, you know, what can go wrong with the appearance stakes, is fascinating because this data is shot through with pretty old-fashioned bias. It seems that women are scrutinized much more than men. We commit twice as many blunders. For instance, it’s very easy to either wear too little makeup or too much makeup. To be seen as looking too young or too old. Either not ready for the big job or over the hill. Women have little latitude, it seems. If you look at the age readings, it’s fascinating. There are kind of three years in there where women are seen as just right: 38 to 41. Men get 17 years in terms of when they’re seen as just right.