Career Coach: To get more women in leadership, we need to grow the pipeline - The Washington Post

Advancing women and diversity in our companies is something most senior executives know to be important for a variety of reasons.  It tends to lead to higher financial returns as measured by returns on equity and operating results. It fosters greater creativity in the workplace and closer connections with customers.

Joyce E.A. Russell (University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business)

Still, progress is slow. Catalyst, a nonprofit organization devoted to accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion, reported rather dismal findings in a 2015 study of board director positions in the S&P 500 firms:

• Men held 80.1 percent of S&P 500 board seats, while women only held 19.9 percent 
• Men held 73.1 percent of new directorships, while women only held 26.9 percent 
• 2.8 percent of companies had zero women directors; 24.6 percent had one woman; and only 14.2 percent of companies had 30 percent or more women on their boards

Deborah Gillis, president and CEO of Catalyst, said in a statement, “Our new Census shows little progress has been made at the board level, and even less progress has been made in the pipeline for women officers and directors—suggesting women are nowhere near the path to parity with men. Men continue to be overrepresented, holding more than their fair share of board seats and, in some cases, all the board seats. Unfortunately, these data indicate that the United States stands in stark contrast to other countries where intentional, bold action is being taken by businesses and governments to accelerate meaningful, sustainable change. U.S. companies are missing opportunities to achieve gender diversity.”

What will it take to get more women into higher levels of business administration? One solution would be to have more women professionally trained in business through education. And yet, progress in business schools has been slow, too. While schools award more than 60 percent of all bachelor’s and master’s degrees to women, the number of those women pursing degrees in business has been declining or stayed stagnant. The percentage of women students and faculty hovers around the 30 percent to 40 percent mark for most business schools, and the number of senior women faculty or administrators is smaller. And don’t even bring up the percent of persons of color among business students, especially graduate students, and among faculty or administrators in business schools. It is significantly lower.

It was one year ago when at the White House, I saw senior officials call upon AACSB International, the accrediting body and membership association for business schools worldwide, to advance a newly formed set of best practices for business schools. Having attended the meeting, it was great to witness the creation of a partnership between senior White House officials and more than 150 top leaders from businesses and business schools in order to carefully develop a set of best practices. The best practices can be seen in more detail at <a href="http://www.aacsb.edu/diversity">aacsb.edu/diversity</a>.

The best practices encourage business schools to address today’s challenges in four areas:

• Ensuring access to business school and business careers 
• Building a business school environment that prepares students for the workforce of tomorrow 
• Ensuring career services that go beyond the needs of traditional students, and 
• Exemplifying how organizations should be run.

To push business schools to take diversity more seriously, AACSB has made diversity and inclusion part of its Vision Initiative, and business school leaders – including myself — have been sharing best practices at conferences. But much more needs to be done.

For us to make a significant dent in having more senior women business leaders, we need to grow the pipeline. This means, we must get more women interested in business as a career. We need to start sooner to get girls (as young as possible) thinking about business or entrepreneurship as a career calling. We need them to see that business can be a noble profession where they can truly “do good” and make an impact on the world today.

But more than this, our business schools need to model best practices by training our faculty, staff and students on biases and micro-aggressions; by hiring, training and promoting individuals based on their performance and not on their backgrounds; we need to encourage women to pursue careers in male-dominated business fields such as finance, IT and analytics; and we need to make sure that the curriculums we use in our programs showcase all types of individuals (women, men, persons of color, etc.) as prominent leaders.

One year later, more schools are committed to the best practices created in the partnership of businesses, business schools, AACSB, and the White House, but more business schools need to become signatories to highlight their commitment. As business schools, to make future changes in organizations, we need to be accountable for pushing ourselves to make change happen if we really want to be a best place for all types of students, staff, and faculty, and if we truly want to impact what our companies of tomorrow will look like.

Joyce E. A. Russell is an industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu or joyce.russell@villanova.edu.

Joyce E. A. Russell is the vice dean at the Robert H. Smith School of Business and the director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership and career management.

Joyce E.A. Russell

The Washington Post

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• Men held 80.1 percent of S&P 500 board seats, while women only held 19.9 percent  • Men held 73.1 percent of new directorships, while women only held 26.9 percent  • 2.8 percent of companies had zero women directors; 24.6 percent had one woman; and only 14.2 percent of companies had 30 percent or more women on their boards

• Ensuring access to business school and business careers  • Building a business school environment that prepares students for the workforce of tomorrow  • Ensuring career services that go beyond the needs of traditional students, and  • Exemplifying how organizations should be run.

To push business schools to take diversity more seriously, AACSB has made diversity and inclusion part of its Vision Initiative, and business school leaders — including myself -- have been sharing best practices at conferences. But much more needs to be done.

Joyce E. A. Russell is an industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu or joyce.russell@villanova.edu.

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Career Coach: Stop sitting around waiting to be asked. Take some initiative. - The Washington Post

Recently I was talking to a group of senior executives about leadership. I asked them the question “what do you most want from your employees at work?” So many of them mentioned initiative. I probed further to try to understand what exactly they meant and why it was so important for employees to show initiative at work.

They lamented that so many employees just wait around for someone to tell them what to do. So when they see an employee who offers to help out before being asked, it really stands out. Some leaders said that taking initiative is one of the most important factors when considering someone for career advancement in the company.

It’s not just about helping out the boss, but anyone who looks like they could use help. For example, a coworker is trying to finish a project and seems harried and another employee sees this and offers to pitch in — that’s initiative. Other ways you can show initiative are:

• Ask colleagues “is there anything I can help you out with today.”  • Take on those boring projects or tasks that no one else wants to do. Be the first to volunteer.  • Let your boss know that you are ready and willing to take on more challenging tasks. But first, make sure you do an excellent job at your own tasks.  • Try to figure things out on your own without constantly asking others how to do something. Read the manual or look something up online to learn as much as you can before having to ask someone what to do. Managers are often really busy and don’t have a lot of time to explain things in detail so if you can look things up.  • Work extra hours to make sure you have mastered how to do something.  • Be on the lookout for how to improve what you are doing. As Victor Hugo said, “Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.”  • Offer suggestions for ways to improve processes at work. Volunteer to follow through with your ideas.  • Offer ideas for how the firm can save money and reduce costs.  • Come prepared. Show that you did the reading to be well-informed before you meet with a client or offer a suggestion. In those slow periods at work, read up on things, take training classes, or look for ways to get more informed about the firm and its businesses.  • Show persistence when faced with obstacles or difficulties in getting something done. A person who shows initiative rarely has a defeatist attitude.  • Check out Bob Nelson’s book, “1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work.”

In addition to showing initiative at work, you may also be asked about how you have shown initiative in a job interview. Be prepared to answer this question. First, think about what an employer is trying to learn about you with this question. They really want to know if you you are able to identify opportunities to make improvements and then followed up on those, if you came up with your own ideas and were able to implement them, and what the end results were. I’ve known some students who have done incredibly well answering these questions because they were very active in their programs by creating new clubs or programs when they saw needs or gaps. The same goes for employees who spotted opportunities to improve customer relations and then came up with ideas and shared them with management.

If you are one of those employees who can show initiative on the job, you will clearly stand out. As Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, once said, “There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

Which type of person will your colleagues and bosses say you are?

Joyce E. A. Russell is the senior associate dean at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu.

They lamented that so many employees just wait around for someone to tell them what to do. So when they see an employee who offers to help out before being asked, it really stands out. Some leaders said that taking initiative is one of the most important factors when considering someone for career advancement in the company.

It’s not just about helping out the boss, but anyone who looks like they could use help. For example, a coworker is trying to finish a project and seems harried and another employee sees this and offers to pitch in – that’s initiative. Other ways you can show initiative are:

• Ask colleagues “is there anything I can help you out with today.” 
• Take on those boring projects or tasks that no one else wants to do. Be the first to volunteer. 
• Let your boss know that you are ready and willing to take on more challenging tasks. But first, make sure you do an excellent job at your own tasks. 
• Try to figure things out on your own without constantly asking others how to do something. Read the manual or look something up online to learn as much as you can before having to ask someone what to do. Managers are often really busy and don’t have a lot of time to explain things in detail so if you can look things up. 
• Work extra hours to make sure you have mastered how to do something. 
• Be on the lookout for how to improve what you are doing. As Victor Hugo said, “Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” 
• Offer suggestions for ways to improve processes at work. Volunteer to follow through with your ideas. 
• Offer ideas for how the firm can save money and reduce costs. 
• Come prepared. Show that you did the reading to be well-informed before you meet with a client or offer a suggestion. In those slow periods at work, read up on things, take training classes, or look for ways to get more informed about the firm and its businesses. 
• Show persistence when faced with obstacles or difficulties in getting something done. A person who shows initiative rarely has a defeatist attitude. 
• Check out Bob Nelson’s book, “1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work.”

Joyce E. A. Russell is the senior associate dean at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Career Coach: Being ‘PC’ is just another way of showing common courtesy - The Washington Post

We are hearing a lot these days on the campaign trail and in other forums about what is or is not meant by “political correctness.” Some say they are fed up with having to moderate how they talk. They believe that our “PC” culture is damaging our country because people are not free to “be themselves” and share their real beliefs. There have been polls showing that many American adults (mostly Republicans, according to the polls) think political correctness is a problem in the United States.

Merriam-Webster defines political correctness as: “agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people.” Interestingly, its definition of being polite is: “having or showing good manners or respect for other people; socially correct or proper.” Other definitions refer to “being interested and concerned in other people’s feelings or showing consideration for others, using tact, and observing social norms.”

So really, how are the definitions of PC and being polite that different?

Anything taken to extreme might be problematic, yet what about simply being polite to others? Isn’t this something we have heard for years and years as something we should all do? At schools and work we are taught to be courteous to others, to help each other out, to treat each other with respect and dignity. So, if we learn that we are using an offensive word to describe someone, why wouldn’t we want to change that to be more polite to him or her? It’s just like saying “please” and “thank you” to others;  being polite is not a sign of weakness or being a pushover.

Often, the opposite of polite is rude. In fact, impolite is defined as a rude person or someone without manners or having low emotional intelligence. At what point did this become commonly accepted as the desired state? Certainly not in schools or work. In fact, there are courses and programs designed specifically to teach manners and etiquette so that people can succeed in getting into better schools or jobs or professions.

Self-improvement expert Dale Carnegie created a lifetime plan for success and wrote several classic books, including “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” in which he describes six ways to make people like you:

• Become genuinely interested in other people. 
• Smile. 
• Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language. 
• Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. 
• Talk in terms of the other person’s interests. 
• Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

His focus on these well-known success tips is on understanding the other person by asking and learning about them – their interests, their ideas, and their suggestions. He doesn’t say that you will never be able to candidly offer your own opinions, but he does say to focus on the other person and learning about their views if you want to make friends and learn how to influence them. Likewise, being polite means using appropriate language – being respectful of someone’s gender, race, religion, political viewpoints and other potentially controversial or difficult subjects. If you made derogatory or inflammatory comments to another person it would simply be considered rude and tactless.

It’s not just good form to be polite. There are plenty of articles about how being polite leads to success in the workplace. Some of the benefits are as follows:

• It enables you to make good first impressions 
• Helps you to make friends 
• Makes you seem more approachable to others (they will sense that you are open to sharing ideas and having a richer dialogue about things) 
• Enables you to build relationships and networks 
• Shows you have strong emotional intelligence (with restraint and composure) 
• Keeps you from blowing up at small things 
• Helps you to more easily transition into a new environment 
• Helps you to build trust with others more easily 
• Encourages a more positive work culture

The next time you are debating about making a comment, forget the rhetoric about whether it is “PC” or not, and just think about whether it is something that would be considered polite. Our workplaces could benefit from more kindness, politeness and civility.

• Become genuinely interested in other people.  • Smile.  • Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.  • Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.  • Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.  • Make the other person feel important — and do it sincerely.

His focus on these well-known success tips is on understanding the other person by asking and learning about them — their interests, their ideas, and their suggestions. He doesn’t say that you will never be able to candidly offer your own opinions, but he does say to focus on the other person and learning about their views if you want to make friends and learn how to influence them. Likewise, being polite means using appropriate language — being respectful of someone’s gender, race, religion, political viewpoints and other potentially controversial or difficult subjects. If you made derogatory or inflammatory comments to another person it would simply be considered rude and tactless.

• It enables you to make good first impressions  • Helps you to make friends  • Makes you seem more approachable to others (they will sense that you are open to sharing ideas and having a richer dialogue about things)  • Enables you to build relationships and networks  • Shows you have strong emotional intelligence (with restraint and composure)  • Keeps you from blowing up at small things  • Helps you to more easily transition into a new environment  • Helps you to build trust with others more easily  • Encourages a more positive work culture

Career Coach: Leadership lessons from a legend - The Washington Post

The accolades have been pouring in for Coach Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee’s Lay Vols basketball team – all-time college basketball leader with 1,098 career wins (the most in NCAA Division I history), an .841 winning percentage (with a win percentage of .913 at home games), seven-time national coach of the year, eight national titles, co-author of several books, inducted into numerous hall of fames, winner of a presidential medal of honor, and an incredibly inspirational leader. A huge loss not only for Tennessee but also for so many more people, whether in sports or not.

I was fortunate to be on the faculty at the University of Tennessee during the time when Pat won six of her eight national titles (and the three repeat titles in 1996, 1997, 1998). It was an unbelievable time to be following women’s sports and to be a Lady Vols fan. Starting out my academic career at Tennessee and teaching leadership, there was no better person to admire and use as an example in my management classes. In addition, Pat was gracious enough to come speak at my executive classes regarding her leadership views. I have never seen a group of senior level executives so mesmerized by any speaker before or since. She had them sitting on the edge of their seats with rapt attention with her stories about hard work, dedication, passion, and motivation.

People talk about everything you can learn about basketball from Coach Summitt. And, clearly she had the expertise to be one of the most knowledgeable teachers of all times. But what I know about her and what many of us witnessed was the incredible legacy she leaves to all those touched by her. She embodied all of the critical characteristics of a transformational leader, some of which are briefly described below:

Individual consideration – We often talk about the importance of treating employees with respect as if each one of them matters as individuals. Yet, so many managers do not really show the level of care to their employees that they should. Pat lived this. She was well known for her “tough love” approach and said: “Players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” She didn’t just treat her players as players, but as individuals each having unique value. Clearly, they felt that. Any of us watching her at a game could see her concern was not just for them as current players but also for them as people, students, and for their futures. And the facts support this – with a 100 percent graduation rate of her players with eligibility and so many of them going on to be successful in their careers. In fact, she produced 34 WNBA players, 21 All-Americans and 39 all-SEC players.

Intellectual stimulation – It’s important for leaders to look for new ways to be innovative and to create an environment that encourages employees to take calculated risks and try out things. Pat pushed her players and her coaches to do just this. As a result, many say they found in themselves the confidence to practice hard, play harder, and live with courage on and off the court.

Inspirational and charismatic – There are so many examples that can be shared about the level of charisma and the inspirational messages that Pat displayed. She is well known for her “steely stare,” yet at the same time she was incredibly positive, seeing the glass as half-full. We have all been impressed by her talks with her team at half-time. They were definitely in your face to hold her players accountable for their performance, yet at the same time she gave them the belief that they could actually go out and play better and win. She empowered them to believe in themselves. And it worked. Look at any game after half-time and you will see a powerful Lady Vol force! As Pat said, “Attitude is a choice. Think positive thoughts daily. Believe in yourself.”

Commitment and dedication – Pat was known to never give up, no matter what the odds. Her passion and dedication for her craft was unparalleled. As she said in one of her books: “Quit? Quit? We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure. They don’t understand commitment. When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life”. I remember hearing Pat once talk about how she had her players practice rebounding over and over again. In fact, I can’t watch a game anymore without myself noting how a team is doing in rebounding. She said “offense sells tickets, defense wins games, and rebounding wins championships”. Her commitment to improving and getting all of the basics down was unmatched.

Goal-setting – Successful leaders and teams set goals for their performance. Clearly Pat had specific goals for each and every practice and game. She also pushed her players to set specific goals for themselves. As she noted: “Continue to seek new goals.”

Succession planning – Most leaders talk about how important it is to train the next generation of leaders. Pat Summitt lived it. Fact – 48 of her former players went on to become coaches. They learned from the best how to be a successful coach. She saw potential in them and encouraged and supported them. As she said, “I’m someone who will push you beyond all reasonable limits. Someone who will ask you not to just fulfill your potential but to exceed it. Someone who will expect more from you than you may believe you are capable of.” How many managers today leave their jobs with no one ready to take over or they don’t really prepare their own direct reports for the next step in their careers. Pat fully prepared others to take on more challenging roles in their own futures.

There is so much more about leadership that can be said about Coach Pat Summitt’s style. She had a tremendous impact on women, on sports, on leaders, and frankly on all of us. Like many others, I have been forever changed by her passion, her enthusiasm, her work ethic, and her total commitment. Unlike some managers who wait until the end of their lives to think about what legacy they will leave, Pat Summitt lived her legacy of leadership each and every day. And for that, all of us are forever grateful!

Joyce E. A. Russell is the senior associate dean at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 30 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu.

The accolades have been pouring in for Coach Pat Summitt of the University of Tennessee’s Lay Vols basketball team — all-time college basketball leader with 1,098 career wins (the most in NCAA Division I history), an .841 winning percentage (with a win percentage of .913 at home games), seven-time national coach of the year, eight national titles, co-author of several books, inducted into numerous hall of fames, winner of a presidential medal of honor, and an incredibly inspirational leader. A huge loss not only for Tennessee but also for so many more people, whether in sports or not.

Individual consideration — We often talk about the importance of treating employees with respect as if each one of them matters as individuals. Yet, so many managers do not really show the level of care to their employees that they should. Pat lived this. She was well known for her "tough love" approach and said: "Players don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." She didn't just treat her players as players, but as individuals each having unique value. Clearly, they felt that. Any of us watching her at a game could see her concern was not just for them as current players but also for them as people, students, and for their futures. And the facts support this — with a 100 percent graduation rate of her players with eligibility and so many of them going on to be successful in their careers. In fact, she produced 34 WNBA players, 21 All-Americans and 39 all-SEC players.

Intellectual stimulation — It's important for leaders to look for new ways to be innovative and to create an environment that encourages employees to take calculated risks and try out things. Pat pushed her players and her coaches to do just this. As a result, many say they found in themselves the confidence to practice hard, play harder, and live with courage on and off the court.

Inspirational and charismatic — There are so many examples that can be shared about the level of charisma and the inspirational messages that Pat displayed. She is well known for her "steely stare," yet at the same time she was incredibly positive, seeing the glass as half-full. We have all been impressed by her talks with her team at half-time. They were definitely in your face to hold her players accountable for their performance, yet at the same time she gave them the belief that they could actually go out and play better and win. She empowered them to believe in themselves. And it worked. Look at any game after half-time and you will see a powerful Lady Vol force! As Pat said, "Attitude is a choice. Think positive thoughts daily. Believe in yourself."

Commitment and dedication — Pat was known to never give up, no matter what the odds. Her passion and dedication for her craft was unparalleled. As she said in one of her books: "Quit? Quit? We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure. They don't understand commitment. When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life". I remember hearing Pat once talk about how she had her players practice rebounding over and over again. In fact, I can't watch a game anymore without myself noting how a team is doing in rebounding. She said "offense sells tickets, defense wins games, and rebounding wins championships". Her commitment to improving and getting all of the basics down was unmatched.

Goal-setting — Successful leaders and teams set goals for their performance. Clearly Pat had specific goals for each and every practice and game. She also pushed her players to set specific goals for themselves. As she noted: "Continue to seek new goals."

Succession planning — Most leaders talk about how important it is to train the next generation of leaders. Pat Summitt lived it. Fact — 48 of her former players went on to become coaches. They learned from the best how to be a successful coach. She saw potential in them and encouraged and supported them. As she said, "I'm someone who will push you beyond all reasonable limits. Someone who will ask you not to just fulfill your potential but to exceed it. Someone who will expect more from you than you may believe you are capable of." How many managers today leave their jobs with no one ready to take over or they don't really prepare their own direct reports for the next step in their careers. Pat fully prepared others to take on more challenging roles in their own futures.

Joyce E. A. Russell is the senior associate dean at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 30 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership, career management, and negotiations. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Career Coach: It’s summer, and business casual is turning into business whatever - The Washington Post

I just came back from a conference where in addition to listening to professional colleagues talk about what they learned from various sessions, I also heard quite a bit about what they thought about attendees’ “business casual attire.” Suffice it to say, the garb was not all that professional.

Many people today still misunderstand the meaning of “business casual.” They think this means we can wear gym shoes or flip flops or comfy pants (e.g., yoga or sweatpants) or beach clothes (strapless tops, ripped shorts, tank tops). This can be a particular problem in the summer when our minds wander elsewhere.

There can be consequences.  As I heard from several attendees at my event — people simply do not take the casually dressed as seriously as they do others. Some wonder, “What was she/he thinking?,” about a woman in a really short skirt or a man in a ripped, dirty T-shirt. They question a person’s judgment about other things as well — unfortunately that still seems to be the way things work in the business world.

When in doubt make sure your business casual is more professional rather than less professional. This is especially important in job interviews or early-on meetings since it is what others use to form a first impression of you. If you’re looking to get promoted, you need to dress seriously.

Appropriate business casual dress typically includes slacks or khakis, dress shirt or blouse, open-collar or polo shirt, a dress or skirt at knee-length or below, knit shirt or sweater, and shoes that cover most of the foot.

In particular, for women, they should not wear (unless, of course, company norms say different):

• Anything too short, too tight or too sheer (see-through) 
• Skirts or dresses should keep to 1-2 inches above the knee at most 
• Blouses that are sleeveless or low-cut and revealing (showing too much cleavage) 
• Overly casual shoes (e.g., flip flops, sneakers), or those with extremely high heels (e.g., stilettos, strappy sandals, heels taller than 2.5-3 inches) 
• T-shirts or halter tops or strapless tops 
• Jeans (unless you are allowed to wear jeans; in that case make sure your top is not too casual) 
• Shorts 
• Casual and/or strapless or spaghetti strap sundresses (you can put a light cardigan sweater or jacket over it to dress it up more) 
• Tank tops 
• Hoodies that are wrinkled or look like pajamas 
• Watch the colors you are wearing. Neon and metallic are no-nos.

What’s important is to get someone’s opinion (and not from the person who dresses even more casual). Some good choices for business casual for women include:

• Casual pants, including cropped pants and capris that hit around mid-calf 
• Skirts and dresses in more casual styles in an appropriate length 
• Button-up shirts, blouses or sweaters 
• Open-toed shoes, including dress sandals

• T-shirts, especially those with obscene or inflammatory sayings or gestures on them 
• Tank tops or muscle tops 
• Jeans or cargo pants 
• Tennis shoes, sandals or flip-flops, boots, or worn-out shoes 
• Wrinkled or dirty clothes 
• Shirts that are not tucked in 
• Shirts that are open and expose too much chest hair 
• Pants that are too short or too long 
• Materials that are see-through or overly harsh or bright colors

Instead, for business casual, men can wear:

• Polo-style shirts or button-up dress shirts 
• Casual pants (clean and neatly pressed) 
• Sweaters 
• Casual (and clean) shoes, preferably leather

Summer is a great time to be able to wear business casual on some occasions. While you may want to just jump out of bed and wear your PJs to work, that’s just not acceptable – not to your colleagues, your clients, and certainly not to your boss.

There can be consequences.  As I heard from several attendees at my event -- people simply do not take the casually dressed as seriously as they do others. Some wonder, “What was she/he thinking?,” about a woman in a really short skirt or a man in a ripped, dirty T-shirt. They question a person’s judgment about other things as well -- unfortunately that still seems to be the way things work in the business world.

In particular, for women, they should not wear (unless, of course, company norms say different):

• Anything too short, too tight or too sheer (see-through)  • Skirts or dresses should keep to 1-2 inches above the knee at most  • Blouses that are sleeveless or low-cut and revealing (showing too much cleavage)  • Overly casual shoes (e.g., flip flops, sneakers), or those with extremely high heels (e.g., stilettos, strappy sandals, heels taller than 2.5-3 inches)  • T-shirts or halter tops or strapless tops  • Jeans (unless you are allowed to wear jeans; in that case make sure your top is not too casual)  • Shorts  • Casual and/or strapless or spaghetti strap sundresses (you can put a light cardigan sweater or jacket over it to dress it up more)  • Tank tops  • Hoodies that are wrinkled or look like pajamas  • Watch the colors you are wearing. Neon and metallic are no-nos.

• Casual pants, including cropped pants and capris that hit around mid-calf  • Skirts and dresses in more casual styles in an appropriate length  • Button-up shirts, blouses or sweaters  • Open-toed shoes, including dress sandals

• T-shirts, especially those with obscene or inflammatory sayings or gestures on them  • Tank tops or muscle tops  • Jeans or cargo pants  • Tennis shoes, sandals or flip-flops, boots, or worn-out shoes  • Wrinkled or dirty clothes  • Shirts that are not tucked in  • Shirts that are open and expose too much chest hair  • Pants that are too short or too long  • Materials that are see-through or overly harsh or bright colors

• Polo-style shirts or button-up dress shirts  • Casual pants (clean and neatly pressed)  • Sweaters  • Casual (and clean) shoes, preferably leather

Summer is a great time to be able to wear business casual on some occasions. While you may want to just jump out of bed and wear your PJs to work, that’s just not acceptable — not to your colleagues, your clients, and certainly not to your boss.