For years, the tie was the main way for a man to express taste and individual choice in otherwise bland business dress.

I know, now you can do that in the selection of shirt or sweater, jacket, etc. But to me, there’s something special about the right combination of jacket, shirt, and tie that has a bit of personal art to it that is otherwise harder to achieve.

I rarely wear a tie any more, but have started collecting them again, kind of looking forward to occasions when I need to wear one (to go to court, most often).

So now what?

Eric, you said, “dress is correlated with respect (and perhaps that is subject to debate)..

I think the real question is how do you build respect at work and therefore trust? (Isn’t this basic to measuring performance and rewarding it?)

As of late, I have been working with my clients on “what is trust?”

I find more and more people tired of the mechanical nature of the technically dominated (any industry) workplace. And more and more interested to learn what comprises a sound approach to social networking in the workplace that wins respect builds respect through work effectiveness with others and the wider reach of people in your daily sphere of work that cuts across organization boundaries where the exchange of knowledge between people builds reputation and results?

For more on Social Network Analysis go to

http://www.workecology.com/redesign2/resources.html

and scroll down to the section on THEORY and PRACTICE. Read anything associated with the competencies related to Social Network Analysis and Portfolio Work or just enjoy all the resources on that page.

It’s amazing what you find out when you use the word RESPECT. Rodney Dangerfield, the comic who could not get enough RESPECT invented a career of comical humor talking about what is respect.

In companies that chose to work with organizational learning—it is always remarkable what happens when you examine the hidden assumptions behind the word “respect.”

I hope others will speak up in this virtual hangout. I believe that the community of people reading here…. have a lot to offer each other given why they read and write here. It would be great to see more participation here through out all the various topics and entries. I think we have a lot to learn from each other on how to use of these tools impacts high performance and innovation.

I regret that I was unable to attend the SF conference last spring and meet some of you.

Siebel was an anomaly in high tech, and I never understood his obsession with formal dress. While I was unemployed I refused to even apply for a job there specifically because of the dress code. Heels and stockings have the same place in my heart as ties do for a lot of men.

I agree with you on this. The sooner the tie goes, the better. It is an archaic, symbol-ridden form of attire.

Since I set up on my own as an independent consultant, I have eschewed the wearing of a tie to no ill effect on my business. In fact, I have only worn a tie once this year for business purposes – and that was for an introduction to a Chief Executive.

Shane

I’m not sure, but I think that this is part of a vast image consultant conspiracy–because basically people who have worn ties in the past were liars–particularly sales people and politicians. Going without a tie says, “Hey, I’m just like you–I expose the top two inches of my neckline too. You can trust me.”

Your entry cracks me up. I remember when I moved back to Boston from the Bay Area in 1999, how shocked I was to see women dressed in IBM Blues and men wearing ties in the Financial District and Beacon Hill.

Given my bicoastal life style, I often see people as the “ties” and the “not ties” or the “suits” from the ‘not suits.” (some women wear suits).

A few years later as some of the top law firms began to close followed by 9/11 total of 155,000 lost jobs that Massachusetts never recovered…

A group of young high energy from California eclectic came to visit a Boston based VC law firm. I remember an report in the Boston Globe that said this California gang of innovators out on meeting after 20 minutes and returned to the airport. They men in suits and ties did not relate.

I wonder what that says about productivity, the local economy and if the tie or suit is a statement of innovation and people who love their work?

Anyone care to comment?