A colleague and good friend of mine and his staff members watched my latest video announcement today in apparent disbelief. Here’s what he wrote:
The video seemed really untypical for you. I’m used to seeing you focus on a business professional market – ie suit and tie. The video was definitely the opposite. Was this intentional? It seems like you have veered a lot from your original vision.
In the past, like many in the business professional market, I have worried a lot (too much) about what everyone might think about this or react like about that – it’s something you had better be tuned into when you operate in the corporate world, or you certainly won’t last long…
I suppose I recently had an epiphany of sorts, after a brief visit with the executives at HostGator week before last and it taught me a few things about being successful in a small to medium sized company.
How we appear matters when we’re someone’s employee…because the others are watching – perhaps even the boss, and our behavior can and will be held against us.
But when you’re a small business owner, the only thing that really matters is being true to your customers – and your own values and integrity – because you are the boss and the buck stops with you.
I also realized something else. Who am I kidding? I’m no longer an executive with a Fortune 100 software company, so I don’t need to act like it anymore – nobody cares that I used to lead a billion dollar plus whatever – it’s irrelevant.
Finally, I’m FREE!
Free to do whatever I please, so long as it pleases my customers. Free to do videos in my t-shirt, a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, if that’s appropriate for my target audience. Today, our target audience is primarily other software companies and entrepreneurs, small business owners and Internet marketers – not the Fortune 100.
So from this point forward, I’m a “barefoot executive”, one who rolls up his sleeves and focuses on customers and their needs first and foremost. Beyond that, let the chips fall where they may…
Being real and transparent is clearly important in today’s Internet-centric world. What we wear to work doesn’t really matter, so long as the work we do is of high-quality and congruent with our customers’ needs. This reminds me of a story…
Some years ago before a big keynote speech in front of thousands of people in a huge auditorium at a major casino conference center in Las Vegas, needless to say, I was a bit nervous. Back stage, our CEO noticed I was nervous, and said something that made as much sense then as it does now:
In order to be successful with any audience:
- First you have to be comfortable with yourself
- Second you have to be comfortable with your material
- Then you can be comfortable with your audience.
Finally, Rick – the Barefoot Executive – is comfortable with his audience.
How about you? Are you comfortable with yours?
{ 6 comments }
How to get comfortable with your audience http://bit.ly/9y3kth
It’s not the suit – it’s who’s wearing it.
Kawabunga, Dude.
How to get comfortable with an audience – http://bit.ly/c1c6py
RT @rickbraddy: How to get comfortable with an audience – http://bit.ly/c1c6py
Good for you Rick.
From your experience is there a huge difference between the small to medium business world and the executive level in terms of what your outward appearance NEEDS to be?
I hate thinking that I have to dress up in a suit if I’m meeting certain people, in fact I actively rebel against it with the mindset of ‘that’s not who I am so I’m not gonna do it’.
Of course this may not be the most grownup attitude
From my experience, there is no difference in the professionalism and respect that successful executives show one another, no matter the size of the company.
For the most part, how we dress should be more of a function of the “venue” and circumstances, not the size company we’re dealing with.
These days, “business casual” is the accepted default here in the U.S. (and abroad, from what I’ve seen). However, adding a jacket brings an increased level of formality (without a suit or tie) when meeting people we don’t know well (slightly more formal), whereas a suit/tie is most appropriate in some corporate sales setting.
So, as with most things, “it depends”. I remember recently I had a dinner meeting with the CEO and CTO of a local medium size business, with people I hadn’t met before. I was dressed business casual, plus a nice jacket. When I arrived, the CTO was in shorts and sandles, and the CEO was wearing jeans. The CEO joked in the elevator that whenever anyone shows up in a jacket, the employees worry about whether they’re about to sell the company
When I attended the Mass Control seminar in San Diego, Frank Kern came out on stage in blue jeans, a t-shirt and barefooted. His “image” is deliberately designed to be this multi-millionaire IM/surfer. The audience was mostly professionals in business casual, with a few shirt/tie types. Frank entertained us with his George Carlin style, which worked fine.
Finally, when I was in my 20′s I took my first sales training course by a guy named Jimmy Cabrera. One of the first things he taught salespeople was a segment he called “I Wanna Be Me”. Being true to oneself and our own values enables us to be more comfortable with others.
So, I agree with you. Be who you are as your “baseline”. But in sales, it helps to adapt and adjust to the circumstances because we need other people to “like us”. Sales people are “chameleons” – able to quickly recognize and adapt to the situation at hand, doing whatever it takes to make the sale.
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