Management Lessons: That's What She Said

Fashion Friday: Hair Raising

Hair management and management hair is a topic of some import.  A person's hair can tell you a lot.  You can guess at their time management skills, their grooming habits, their state of mind, their age, and get a good idea of what you are up against.  All that from hair.  Yes, really.

This week I'll talk about the best looks for women in management, tackling the men next week.

First and foremost, consider your hair a part of your wardrobe.  You wouldn't show up to work with your clothes wet, wrinkled, or dirty, so don't show up to work with a wet*, messy, or greasy head.  It is tacky.  It is nasty.  It gives the wrong impression.  Even if you were running late, you would take the time to put on clean, dry clothes.  Books are judged by their covers, and wet, dirty, unkempt hair means one of two things:  Your book is about how badly you manage time, or your book is about how you don't care about perceptions.  Neither of those books belongs in the management section of Barnes and Noble.

Upkeep is key.  If you color your hair, keep up with it.  Only Debbie Harry gets to work roots.  Keep a comb and a trial sized bottle of spray in your bag, or desk.  Use them.  TV managers don't look perfect all day because they were born that way.  They look perfect because they have hair and makeup professionals running onto the set between takes, smoothing, spritzing, fluffing, and fixing.

You will have bad hair days.  It happens.  Just like you will spill coffee on your blouse some days, and you will run your stockings others.  It isn't the off day that counts, but your general consistency.  If you aren't sure about how to style your hair, ask and learn.  Tell your stylist you need to know how to copy your look.  He or she will be glad to give you tips.

When it comes to cuts, there are plenty of perfect examples on television.

Short to Mid-Length Hair

Lt. Anita Van Buren spent several seasons in a pixie cut that was flattering and fashionable.  This is a good cut if you keep it styled.  Surprisingly, pixies aren't as easy keep as they look.  Short hair can be very high maintenance and requires more frequent trips to the salon to keep from looking shaggy.  Also, take care that you keep the product soft so it doesn't turn into a helmet. 

Arrested Development had some outstanding costuming.  Especially on the matriarch, Lucille Bluth.  She's managing the most dysfunctional family on television, and she's doing it with style.  Lucille's chin length bob is a perfect example of good manager hair.  It is an easy style to accomplish, and always looks like a million bucks. 

Margene Heffman's big love for even bigger hair has waned, along with her interest in plural marriage, as she has learned to market herself as a businesswoman.  Hers is another lovely example of a bob.  This is a style that suites many face shapes and types of hair, and can be worn more naturally or highly styled. 

Whoopi Goldberg mediates The View, and is a manager in that aspect.  She is also one of the few African American women on television sporting dreadlocks, and one of the few women who eschew obvious makeup.  She looks powerful, professional, and good.  The key to professionalism in her hair style is that it is well kempt.  Her hair looks healthy, and well-maintained.

Does Patty Hewes ever look bad?  She may be doing bad things, but she always looks professional and sharp.  It's the hair and the sweet suits.  This Princess Diana-esque do could easily turn sweet, but the shorter bangs keep it from straying into that territory.

Long Hair

Wilhelmina Slater works in fashion, so her long hair is a frequent accessory.  However, at her most professional looking, she wears it in a French twist or chingon.  When it is worn down, it is styled to the teeth and you would never mistake her for a windblown minion.  No.  This woman is in control.

I give Dr. Lisa Cuddy a hard time for looking like a high class call girl when her lab coat is hanging on the back of her chair.  Most of the time her hair is a big tousled don't, but when she gets it right, it can look very nice.  Her best look is pulled halfway back.

*Lane notes: I have been reamed for suggesting that women should dry their hair before coming to work.  Deal with it.  Unless you work at Sea World, or some other outlet that requires you to be submerged, your head should be dry before you walk into the office.  Pulling wet hair back does not count as styling it.  If your head is still wet, you are not completely groomed.  Either take the time to complete your styling before the start of the work day, or choose a style that will fit into your schedule.**

**Arwen notes: I admit, Lane and I went in circles on this because we come from different backgrounds. In my world, we almost never see outsiders and showing up 20 minutes late so you can look your best is practically grounds for dismissal, because deadlines are everything and nobody really cares how you look as long as you aren't making the air unbreathable with your stink. In her world, it's vastly preferable to show up 20 minutes late so that you can present the best image possible to the company's clients for the other 95 percent of the day. It's really a case-by-case call whether you are the only person with the keys to the building or the only person who can make that crucial six-figure sale. But neither of us is saying it's OK to routinely show up 20 minutes late in order to be presentable; this is more for those "I overslept/the kid-cat-spouse barfed on me/I sprayed soda all over the world at breakfast" situations. In general, if you have 20-minute hair, get up 20 minutes earlier to do it. Good managers present a capable, competent image by showing up well-appointed and on time.)

Lane Buckman has been in love with fashion since she realized that her first Easter dress came with matching gloves, shoes, and purse. Growing up in the entertainment industry this former beauty queen, model and actress turned corporate career woman understands that dressing for success is just another form of costuming. And, since she has run the size gamut from 2 to 18, Lane understands dressing a variety of shapes. She has written dress codes and conducted Business Style and How to Dress seminars for Fortune 500 and finance companies, boutique agencies, and an international non-profit organization. She gives her stylish Southern mother credit for teaching her everything she knows.

Health and Human Services

Management is hard work, don't let anyone tell you different and don't let the scoffers get you down.  You have to deal with unhappy staff, you have to protect your staff from unhappy outsiders. You have to step back and let people succeed or fail on their own merits, and be prepared for either outcomes. You have to sit on your hands and let other people do their jobs when it would be infinitely faster and easier to just brush them aside and get the work done yourself.

But that's part of what makes it interesting, right? If all you had to do as a manager was show up every day, wish everyone a cheery good morning and then go play on Facebook til it was time to go home, that might be fun, but not very fulfilling.

One of the hardest things a manager has to do is monitor her staff. Who's whipsmart? Who's a workaholic? Who's burned out and bitter? Who's the loose cannon?

Pity poor Lisa Cuddy -- she's got one guy who fits all those descriptions. On the one hand, 9 times out of 10 she can correctly guess where to go first when trouble arises. On the other -- how do you deal with that? How do you take this exceptional outlier employee and justify letting him get away with murder (almost literally!) where you'd fire other, lesser mortals? How do you know when to let him go and when to pull him back? How do you sleep at night when you never know what mess you're going to discover happened in those four-six-eight hours you were unconscious?  And how do you get the rest of your job done when this one guy is such a time sink?

Well, that is management. Time management, personality management, team management.

Obviously, we can look at Gregory House's management style as well -- but he's dealing with a different set of issues and that's another post.

Bossing someone like this -- I don't actually know how you deal with a guy like this in real life, because I don't think I'd have the courage to hire someone like that in the first place. I don't like drama, and I don't like unpredictability. I certainly wouldn't recommend knowingly keeping a drug addict on the payroll.  And this is only the beginning of Cuddy's problems.  Brilliant troublemakers take up a lot of time and energy. You have to keep them out of trouble, and you have to keep everyone else from thinking they can go rogue in the same fashion. I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

You don't prescribe medicine based on guesses. At least we don't since Tuskeegee and Mengele.

A former boss of mine referred to these people as "constipators." "They mess with how crap flows. I don't have a high tolerance for that and I'm not going to knowingly wish that affliction on anyone else," was how he explained it. 

Executive to Cuddy: He makes you miserable. Eight years he's worked here, never made a dime for you, never listened to you.... You have no idea how many times he's lied to you, undercut your authority, made you look like crap to other doctors.
Cuddy: Yes, I hate him, and here I am, desperately trying to protect his job. What does that tell you?
Executive: That you don't hate him.
Cuddy: I do not protect people I like. I protect people who are assets to this hospital.

On the other hand, clearly there are some excellent payoffs.  House saves lives, he is gifted and clearly loves what he does, he isn't a complete sociopath and does have his moments of redemption. That makes it worse, frankly. If these qualities weren't there, it would be much easier to kick him to the curb. (And don't let that quote above fool you. Of course she doesn't hate him.)

Cuddy: You're actually talking about killing her.
House: Just for a little while, I'll bring her right back.
Cuddy: Oh, well, in that case go ahead. Why are we even talking?

It is my assessment -- or maybe just my projection -- that Cuddy struggles with her job. I don't know that I'd say she's bad at it, but I don't think she really loves it, either. She's running an outfit where people can steal drugs from the dispensary, where babies disappear, where dictators get murdered. If she truly loved her job, she'd have a better grasp of how to run her outfit. Instead, she is always stretched too thin, this season she is having work-life balance issues, she is too softhearted to fire people who deserve it and she rarely acts like the grownup in difficult situations. And she spends waaaaayyyy too much time focusing on this one tiny employee of a huge medical concern.

It's not going to work.  You know why?  Because this is fun.  You think of something to make me miserable, I think of something to make you miserable: It's a game!  And I'm going to win, because I've got a head start.  You are already miserable.

It also seems like she is in an administrative position when she'd probably have more fun doing the doctoring in the trenches with her friends -- which is another issue: She is far too chummy with her staff. As a manager, even the manager of a lunatic, the last thing you want to do is enlist the lunatic's best friend as your confidante and counselor on how to deal with him.

And as Lane has pointed out, her outfits do her no favors. Seriously, nothing screams "insecure with my authority" as loudly as "Hey! Look at my boobs falling out of this blouse!"  If Cuddy were truly in control of anything, she'd have started with her cleavage. 

It occurs to me I've given negative marks to the two women  I've spotlighted here. I need to work on that, don't I?

Project Management

(Fashion Friday, once again, brought to you by style guru Lane.)

Fashion is tricky because it is fleeting.  It is not true that there are some timeless pieces that will never go out of style.  Eventually, everything goes out of style.  Just ask the makers of breeches.  There are wardrobe pieces that will carry you through several seasons of style, but the wonderful thing about fashion is that there is always something new and exciting.  Because it showcases young or at least undiscovered designers, Project Runway is an entertaining peephole into the worlds of the men and women who want to tell you what to wear.  Because it showcases Tim Gunn, it is genius.

What are you doing? This is such wretched excess.

The best rule of thumb for avoiding wretched excess in your dressing is to dress yourself to a point system.  You may have heard the expression dressed to the nines.  While no one has pinpointed the exact origin of the phrase, I use it as a guide to maintaining an appropriate balance in attire.  Completely dressed, your ensemble should be equal to, or less than nine points worth of look.  Every item of clothing and every accessory is worth one point.  The more vibrant, exciting, or ostentatious the item, the higher the point value.  A simple black dress is worth one point.  A backless black dress that is cut to the navel would be worth at least three.  A handsome tie is worth one point.  A hot pink, paisley tie is worth two.

When dressing, add up the points of your outfit.  Working in management, your clothing points should always fall between five and eight, seven being just right.  Nine is for a night out.  A manager's wardrobe needs to speak to confidence, authority, and personal responsibility.  It should not shout, "Look at me!"  It should say, "You can trust me to get the job done."  Your accessories can make the difference between screaming and speaking.

While her private life may be a wretched excess, Barb Henrickson of Big Love makes the art of dressing to manage look easy.  Barb's every day wear is business casual already, so her step up to professional wear as the manager of a casino and state senator's wife wasn't much of a transition.  Still, she made the jump from pretty teacher to serious businesswoman without losing her femininity.

In this photo, Barb is dressed to a 7. Her blouse is worth 2 points.  Her suit is worth 2 points, her nude shoes (not pictured) worth 1 point, her wedding ring 1 point, and her hair 1 point.  Why does her hair get a point?  Because it is big enough to be considered an accessory.  The bigger the hair or more complicated the hairdo, the more points.  (Think of Jennifer Beals on The L Word.  Her pretty curls were an accessory, so her hair was always worth at least a point.)

Now, take a look at Tim Gunn. That, my friends, is the way to wear a suit.  Pay close attention to the length of the sleeve, Gentlemen.  That is how long the sleeve of a suit coat should be.  At rest, your sleeve should not touch your hand.

Nothing, nothing, nothing looks sloppier than a man in a suit coat with over-long sleeves. It is the business world equivalent of having N00B stamped on your forehead.  In this photo, assuming Tim is wearing black socks, he is dressed to a 7.  1 point each for the suit, shoes, socks, shirt, tie, cause-pin, and glasses.

Here is an example of Tim in a shirt worth 2 points:

Accessories for Men in Management

• Monograms count as accessories.  Monograms also convey a "type".  Consider whether or not you wish to be thought of as this "type" before having your initials engraved on your clothing.  My suggestion is that unless you are afraid someone might mistake your shirt for his, you leave your name off of it.  If you are a manager and have to worry about someone snatching your clothes, you have bigger issues than monograms.

• No bling in the boardroom.

• I hope it goes without saying that men in management should not wear earrings or facial jewelry.

• Do let your ties show your personality, just be aware of your points.  A lot of tie plus a lot of suit equals wretched excess.  I give you our own Tim Gunn in such a mess:

Accessories for Women in Management

• Tasteful is the key.  Avoid cheap, plastic jewelry.  If it looks like you might have found it at Claire's, put it back in the jewelry box.

• Your shoes can and should be pretty, but think pretty as in Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn.  Also, make sure they fit, and make sure you can walk in them.

• Really think about what your jewelry and handbags say to the people who work for you.  If you can afford to drip with diamonds and carry that Birkin, chances are people will think you don't need the job.  People will not take you seriously as someone who has a career and will look at you as someone who is working for a hobby.  They will not trust you, and when the revolution comes, you will be the first one up against the wall.

"A couture post-office uniform is not going to work."

Be sure you are job or event appropriate.  Don't dress in evening wear for a day job.  Twenty years later, my high school classmates and I are still laughing about the vice principal who wore cocktail dresses and stiletto heels to work.  She always looked fantastic while trying to break up fights in the cafeteria.  Ineffective as all get out, but looked good enough for dinner at the Mansion.  Likewise, even if it is casual Friday, a manager needs to be dressed in the nicest casual possible.  That means crisp and tidy.  Starch is actually your friend.

Your clothes have to be functional.  I do a lot of typing, so suit coats aren't going to work well for me.  This means attractive, professional looking blouses, or jackets with 3/4 length sleeves.  I love a 3/4 sleeve on a lady.  Consider what you do with your body all day long when choosing your wardrobe.  Do you bend over a lot?  How's that neckline?  Do you sit down all day?  How's that hemline?  Is it cold?  Do you have a nice looking jacket for cover?

Do you know who dresses inappropriately for work?  Dr. Lisa Cuddy, that's who.

From the top of her very visible cleavage, to the pointed toes of her ridiculous for hospital wear high heels, Cuddy is a head to foot professional fashion don't. 

Ladies, if the tops of your breasts are visible, that alone is worth 3 points. Cuddy is a beautiful woman and I covet many of her outfits, but for dinner wear.  Those beautiful, low cut blouses are not ideal for bending over patients, and those shoes certainly aren't made for walking the miles of hospital hallways.

"I hate hot pants, but they're very now."

Absolutely do not ever wear hot pants to work.  That out of the way, it is important to recognize what is now and adjust your wardrobe accordingly.  Once upon a time, this was very now:

Mmmm, polyester!  Today?  Not so much.  You can either date yourself by getting married to a trend, or you can stay forever fashionable by simply dating the latest thing.  Fashion isn't about commitment.  Fashion is about playing the field and keeping your pimp hand strong to slap away outdated looks when necessary.

How should you keep up with now?  Television of course!  Look at the legal dramas.  Legal dramas will always have the latest trends in professional wear.  I am sad to have seen Boston Legal go because James Spader and Candice Bergen were amazingly costumed. 

That was one well dressed cast. 

Another of Bergen's hit TV shows is an example of how trends can date you.  Check out the Reagan era blazer and hair on Murphy Brown:

That hair, by the way, is worth at least 3 points.  It is big, it is long, and it is distracting.  (I am not a fan of long, loose hair on management.  It looks too casual and is easily unkempt.  If your hair looks high maintenance or like it requires several touch-ups per day, people will wonder if you spend more time brushing it than working.  Updos or sophisticated ponytails, please.)

Avoid like the plague anything catering to a teen audience, or reality television.  Neither Gossip Girl nor The Hills are good places for managers to get fashion tips.

In another post, I will talk about how to dress like Happening Hollywood when all you can afford is Goodwill.  In the meantime, take what you have, add up the points and as Tim Gunn would say, "Make it work."