In the movie Crazy Stupid Love, Steve Carrellplays an awkward forty-something man whose wife wants a divorce. As he’s getting used to life as newly single, he meets the dashing, smooth-talking character played by Ryan Gosling who takes Carrell under his wing. In one particularly funny scene, Carrell shows up for a style “lesson” wearing khakis and running shoes.
“Are you Steve Jobs?” asked Gosling.
“Uh, no,” said Carrell.
“Are you the CEO of Apple?” asked Gosling.
“No, I’m not,” said Carrell.
“Then you have no business wearing New Balance running shoes,” said Gosling as he took the shoes and threw them over a railing.
Here’s a question that I that get quite frequently: Why can Steve Jobs get away with wearing jeans and running shoes as the CEO of a major publicly traded company? It’s a simple answer—because he’s Steve Jobs. When you pioneer the personal computer and create a string a world changing products like the iPod, iPhone and the iPad, you’ll have won the right to dress any way you please. But until you do, dress to impress.
Steve Jobs Didn’t Always Wear the Turtleneck. There’s a little known story about Steve Jobs that bears repeating. During his 12-year absence from Apple from 1985 to 1997 Steve Jobs started NeXT. One day he was heading to the bank to ask for a loan and his partner showed up to Steve’s house in blue jeans. Steve told him to put on a suit (or borrow one of his) because “we’re going to the bank today.”
Steve Jobs doesn’t care anymore about the impression he makes, but he certainly cared when he was a young entrepreneur asking for a loan. Today Jobs dresses in whatever makes him comfortable, and obviously what makes him comfortable are blue jeans, a black mock turtleneck and running shoes. But as a leader or aspiring leader, you’re not Steve Jobs and what you wear speaks volumes about you. We might not like to believe that people judge us based on what we wear, but they do.
The best wardrobe advice you’ll ever hear. I’m about to give you the best wardrobe advice you’ll ever get. I learned this from a military hero who I spoke to backstage at a business conference. He said leadership starts from the minute you walk into the door. Your “subordinates” (your team, employees, partners) are sizing you up based on your body language and how you look. “Always dress a little better than everybody else,” he told me. The key words are a little better. In other words, dress appropriately for the culture but a little better than everybody else in the room. Doing so leaves a subtle, but important, hint that you are a leader people should respect.
In Crazy Stupid Love, Steve Carrell’s character learned to keep the running shoes at the gym. Running shoes are perfectly appropriate for Steve Jobs, but most leaders would do better to skip Foot Locker and head to Nordstrom’s instead.