professional success<\/a> can be achieved with a costume,\u201d says Alice Stephenson, founder and CEO of Stephenson Law. \u201cIt totally negates the hard work, integrity and knowledge required to really thrive in your field. For me, a professional is someone who\u00a0dives headfirst into their\u00a0industry\u00a0and\u00a0works hard to advance it, better it and own it.\u201d<\/p>\nAlice doesn\u2019t just speak from the privileged\u00a0position of being her own boss. She\u2019s worked her way up the ladder and experienced the stigma of non-conformity in the past. \u201cWhen I first became a lawyer, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was a tattooed single mother who didn\u2019t fit the mould. And while I tried for a few short years to blend into the crowd, it just made me feel alien in my own skin. So when I founded my own law firm, I was determined to build a business that celebrated self-expression.\u201d Alice certainly walks the talk. A quick look through her firm\u2019s staff profiles reveals a diverse mix of professionals who clearly aren\u2019t trying to fit the stereotype \u2014 there are leather jackets and casual tees alongside the more traditional blouses and pencil skirts.<\/p>\n
Kay Szawlis is a paralegal with a taste for vibrant hair. She rocks a bright red and orange balayage in her profile shot, but when we speak, it has transitioned to a glorious purple. \u201cI think diversity is an amazing value, and the way we dress is a part of that,\u201d she says. \u201cVery often uniform clothing indicates the expectation of uniform thinking. And I think it is valuable to have different points of view, different opinions and a team that isn\u2019t afraid to voice them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kay discusses her work wardrobe and how it evolved over the pandemic. \u201cMy wardrobe was full of black t-shirts and jeans or jeggings. During the lockdowns when working from home, I fully embraced athleisure wear. And currently I live in hoodies and leggings; usually very bright, patterned ones to match my ever-changing hair colour. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love and appreciate quirky designs and nice clothes, but I just put comfort above other factors now.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than just comfort<\/h3>\n
Comfort obviously plays an important role in our overall happiness and wellbeing at work, but openness to self-expression is about more than just providing physical comfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cClothes, coloured hair, tattoos, piercings \u2014 these are all an outside expression of our inner selves. And while it\u2019s nice to be able to have purple hair, as I currently do, it goes beyond that. At Stephenson Law, we are comfortable being our true selves in other aspects too,\u201d Kay explains. \u201cFor example, we have staff members who are neurodiverse and openly talk about it. We have discussions about our mental health. We have ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity and people are happy to share their customs and background with the rest of the firm.\u201d<\/p>\n
HR consultant, Emily Maxwell, has also seen the benefits of this sort of cultural corporate change, having previously been part of a company that made the shift from not allowing\u00a0facial piercings, coloured hair or\u00a0exposed tattoos, to embracing them. In fact, she says it became their point of difference. For HR teams looking to boost employee engagement, morale and retention, liberal dress codes can go a long way.<\/p>\n
Of course, as Emily points out, it can be a big change for some companies making the transition. \u201cFor some managers it\u2019s a big shift to become more flexible and open to seeing past how someone presents to looking at what they bring to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Be the change<\/h3>\n
Kay\u2019s advice to anyone worried they can\u2019t be themselves and find the perfect job is to stay the path. \u201cIf you\u2019re worried you may not fit, you might be right and that\u2019s ok. There are plenty companies out there, take your time to find the right fit for you. And that may also change over time, so don\u2019t be afraid to change jobs if you feel that the fit is not right. It took me five tries to find my work \u2018home\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you take your cues from Mad Men\u2019s Don Draper and feel like the best version of yourself in formal attire, by all means, suit up. The important thing is to own who you are and dress the way that makes you feel good. But if you are feeling boxed in by rigid dress codes and industry stereotypes at work, maybe it\u2019s time to take a stand. Maybe this is your chance to show your real leadership colours.<\/p>\n
As CEO Alice points out, \u201cThe corporate world is often dominated by leaders and managers who uphold the idea that to succeed you need to blend in with the crowd. And that tells the next generation of hopefuls that they can\u2019t climb the corporate ladder without sacrificing who they might be. It\u2019s a self-fulfilling cycle that creates beige board rooms and carbon copies at an executive level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her advice? Be the change you want to see. \u201cThis is why I believe it\u2019s so important to show up and own who you are in a public way. You\u2019re not just doing it for you, you\u2019re also doing it for those trying, and failing, to blend in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauren Furey is a freelance writer who loves\u00a0deep dives into tough topics on all\u00a0things culture, society and the messiness\u00a0of\u00a0humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou don\u2019t look like an accountant,\u201d said another schoolyard dad to my husband. The comment wasn\u2019t meant to be cruel or derogatory \u2014 my husband has a mohawk that he often wears in a topknot \u2014 it was simply a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":2351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,80],"tags":[133,320],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2349"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2356,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2349\/revisions\/2356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wellbeing.com.au\/curious\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}