Twitteretter

One interesting and, from my perspective, welcome trend in business habits evolution is the gradual but undeniable superseding of the business uniform. During my business life I’ve seen first the tie, then the suit and ultimately the shirt and shoes give way to jeans, tshirts and trainers, adding welcome colour and variety to the working environment. However, whilst we are allowing aesthetic personality into the business environment, are we allowing real personality? We may dress differently, but I am still impacted by the uniformity of thinking, attitudes and methods. Business schools churn out uniformity of substance, if not of appearance. Managers, leaders and even employees share the same understanding of the purpose of business, the nature of workplace relationships and the suitability of methods, metrics and practices. The variety of appearance is interesting and fun for a fleeting moment only. I would happily don a suit and tie if we could wear uniqueness in substance in return...

You may not often feel like a Hollywood star in the workplace, but your career is at the same risk as theirs of the phenomenon called typecasting. From your early working life, the system, through its actors (your employers, other employers who might interview you, etc.), tries to put you in a box. You become an accountant specialised in budgeting, a speciality chemicals sales manager or a business manager for medium size businesses with a manufacturing focus, just as Bela Lugosi became a vampire or Errol Flynn a leotarded hero. This is, most importantly, liable to be very boring for you. It is not intentional, the system does not do it to you on purpose. But it does do it, because most of its actors dislike risk and don’t want to try you out at something completely different. This limits your choices to experiment and try and learn new things. But ultimately, you don’t have to accept typecasting. Instead of Lugosi, you could choose to be Oldman, instead of Flynn, Di Caprio  Length...