At a recent conference, personnel from Lanier Muchin, a Chicago-based law firm, retold their story of “The Lanier Muchin Challenge.” Knowing that timeliness of service is a top concern to clients, the firm did a mailer challenging their prospects to call and leave a message for their current attorney (usually from a competing firm). Then wait an hour or two and call a Lanier Muchin attorney. If their current attorney returned the call first, Lanier Muchin bought the prospect lunch and donated $100 to the prospects favorite charity.

The boldness of this challenge delighted us. Even if the other attorney calls first, Lanier Muchin gets to buy the prospect lunch. It is a win for them all around.

Recently I posted a request on the Accounting Marketing Association’s listserv regarding whether nylons are required for women at member firms. I received 15 responses ranging from an indignant “there would be a rebellion,” to “we are a very conservative firm.”

I asked for purely selfish reasons. It was over 90 degrees in steamy Minnesota and one of my clients does require that women wear nylons with skirts. I have a few pair of nylons and a special pair of shoes just for my visits to that firm. Mainly I wear pants because struggling into a pair of moisture retaining pantyhose in the summer is, well, horrible.

Much as I hate it, I know why this firm specifies details like nylons. When it relaxed the dress code, people came in with an amazing array of styles that would put a piece of black tape across their faces on the “Fashion Don’ts” page in Cosmo Magazine. We go to many professional service firms with terrific reputations and see people wearing the worst excuses for credibility you can imagine. A few of our favorites include:

• White stretch pants. In St. Paul we still see stirrup pants. Even though they are so out they are almost in, our advice is “Just don’t.”
• Those Dockers that were black in the mid ‘90s. Now they are some odd shade of gray. Buy new ones. You are a professional. Make an investment in your career and get a fresh pair.
• Shoes that need polish. Polish them. Shoes with run down heels. Heel them. Shoes with squished down backs. Throw them away.
• A lack of T-shirt under a dress shirt when your chest is covered in dark hair. Please reconsider.
• Untidy feet in poorly cared for sandals.
• Flip flops. No. I don’t care if you see them in the White House, don’t wear them when you want people to pay you a whole lot of money.

Julie Lindy, the Executive Editor of INSIDE Public Accounting, wrote a great post to my query:

“…I’ve observed that most of the firms I really admire don’t address dress codes as an image issue, but as an HR issue. They put their energy into the minutia of how to identify, hire and keep the sharpest people with the sharpest judgment rather than into the details of what constitutes a professional wardrobe. They simply expect to hire great people who have the sense to know what a professional appearance is, and on the occasions when an employee has a lapse in judgment, it’s addressed on an individual basis. When a professional is dazzling clients and referral sources with their expertise and great work, the absence of pantyhose or the presence of open-toed shoes doesn’t really influence perceptions of her professionalism.”

Julie is right, of course. No dress code will make your people into stars. I will take a smart, caring, organized lawyer or CPA wearing Capri pants over a dud in a navy suit any day. At age 45, I feel my credibility better come with me everywhere I go no matter what I wear or I should just give up and go home.

At the same time, if there is one thing I know about being human, it is that we make all kinds of judgments about others. At age 45, I have a completely different reaction to tattoos and piercings than my 16-year-old daughter Elle does. For her they are mere decoration, for me they are noticeable and distracting, at least for a moment. To my dad, they are an unmistakable message about the person who has them. The message is “Do not trust this carnival barker.”

If I see someone who is well dressed in quality clothes appropriate to the occasion, has up-to-date eyeglasses, a good haircut, and tidy shoes, I am more likely to trust that person than someone who takes less care. And at age 45, my generation represents a lot of bosses and decision-makers.

We can focus on the aspects of personal self-expression in dress, which makes for a loaded and emotional discussion, or we can focus on issues of power and influence. My daughter, when she lobbies tirelessly for a tongue ring, focuses on her own self-expression. I, when I tiredly respond “no tongue ring” for the 48th time, am focusing on the long-term effects on her prospects for employment and her ability to gain power in the world.

Perhaps it is better to share the research about how people make judgments in seconds and on what basis. Share with your staff that different generations respond differently to styles, that quality materials such as wool, silk, and good cotton make a better impression, and that details like two minutes with an iron and 30 seconds with some shoe polish add up to more money.

Change the conversation from “you must,” to a just a few “do nots” and a lot of “you chooses.” While I continue to deny the tongue ring, she chooses her hair color because that comes out.

Nylons or no nylons are a detail, not the whole picture. But it is very important to share why you request a certain image from your staff and what the consequences are to them (not to go home like a child, but to lose power and respect) if they choose not to project that image.

Other responses on the listserv include 12 firms that do not require nylons, four firms that do and one that requires them if you are out at a client’s or meeting with clients but not in the office during a regular workday. Comments from these generous authors include:

Sam Deeder of Moss Adams LLP, comments: “Hard to enforce women wearing panty hose if they don’t require men to do the same…” She laughs and adds, “Especially in California.”

Shannon Smith of DeLeon & Stang in Maryland talked about working from home and said, “…when you can go to work in your PJs, why go to the office in petticoats?”

Jamie Trayner from LBA in Jacksonville wrote: “We would have a rebellion. We’re in Florida and the heat and humidity is brutal.”

Erinn Kererica of Frazier & Deeter shared that “Nylons are required for any skirt/dress that does not fall to mid calf or lower.” She also said that the “fashion police” in her firm can hand out “fashion citations,” and that it’s taken in good fun.