Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Dress-essence

In April, one of my FB friends, MB, wrote:
"Corporate dressing purpose is divided into three aspects -
Coverage, Communication and Comfort.

In simple words, your clothing should look decent, should communicate a positive message and you should feel comfortable with your dressing."

I'm sure you know that this is just up my alley...so "walk with me"

Coverage: it goes without saying that what you show determines who you are...

Communication: the level of coverage or lack thereof sends messages about you.

Comfort: it's one thing to be comfortable in what you wear and equally important that what you wear is "comfortable" with where you are. We should be appropriately "dressed for the occassion."

Although your comportment is also important, your clothes should portray you in a good light and you should also portray your clothes in a good light. It is not about wearing costly or "current" (i.e. fashionable) clothes; what is important is wearing the correct clothes - that align with who you are. Allow me to say:
"Show me your clothes and I'll tell you who you are."

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Networking works...

In the past couple of years, I've heard so much about the importance of networking. I can tell you that it's not a skill that is easily developed - it has been a lot of work for me and now I see the fruits of all that work. When I noticed that it was highlighted as one of the proven strategies for ambitious women, I couldn't resist sharing snippets with you. The focus of the event was: “Navigating, Negotiating, and Building Your Strategic Network.” I encourage you to check out the full article.* Italics and green font mine.

Networking and Relationships
The panelists** agreed that networking is important for women in the industry – but approaching it as building genuine relationships is the key. “Networking – that word sounds like a lot of work to me. I try to think about it as relationships,” Paula L. Rogers said. “It doesn’t have to be calculating.”

Look inwards then step out...