Social Capital Mentor

I’m from Hawaii. You know: palm trees, beaches, and surfing. You want to know what’s considered business attire or ‘formal wear’ in Hawaii? Just add a long sleeved t-shirt to your outfit and you’re good to go. Oh yeah, and throw some shoes on (with socks).

Being from Hawaii, I always get a kick out of articles like this one from Christina Binkley at the Wall Street Journal, Inside a Bastion of Old-School Power Attire. She talks about how strict this firm—Bickle and Brewer—is when it comes to their employees’ business fashion sense.

I can totally understand where they’re coming from. If you want to be a high powered attorney, you had better look like one. The firm’s hiring partner, Michael Gardner, has a unique way of getting his point across:

Young lawyers who arrive ignorant of the power-suit ensemble get a little tutoring from Mr. Gardner “in a mentoring way,” he says. Let’s just say that if Mr. Gardner invites you for a quick cup of joe at Starbucks, you might want to reconsider your footwear. Next door to the Starbucks in the lobby is a shoeshine shop. “You know,” he tells those with scuffed shoes, “I’m going to get my shoes shined. Why don’t you join me?”

Adam Sanderson, an associate of the “millennial” generation born after 1981, accompanied Mr. Gardner to the shoeshine shop after joining the firm in 2006. Mr. Gardner says Mr. Sanderson’s shoes were too trendy. “I was thinking the next best thing would be to get his shoes shined,” Mr. Gardner recalls. But he didn’t stop there. “I just told him, ‘We gotta get rid of those shoes.’ ”

Mr. Sanderson says he had been planning to get new shoes anyway — and he bought the cap-toed Ferragamos that Mr. Gardner suggested. “Shined shoes are a point of pride here,” he adds.

Mr. Gardner wants his lawyers looking like lawyers. Nothing wrong with that.

Now imagine Mr. Gardner’s reaction to a new associate that did his/her research, and came in wearing those Ferragamos. His perception of that person would be noticeably different.

So, please, for your next networking event, business lunch, or job interview, don’t dress for your own comfort. Dress with the appropriate work attire; as you want to be perceived by the people you are trying to impress. Your business attire is part of your professional image. Is the price of an expensive pair of shoes worth it? You bet.

Just don’t wear them to the beach.

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