University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Beyond Business Casual
Book

Beyond Business Casual

What to Wear to Work If You Want to Get Ahead

Ann Marie Sabath
Career Press, 2000
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Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Self-help books tend to be either insightful or dumb. Author Ann Marie Sabath manages to accomplish both results in the same book. At times, the book provides useful examples on topics that are truly unclear, but other times it tells you to wear your galoshes in the snow. If you are willing to shift through some incredible obviousness, then you will find enough pearls. The lists of common mistakes that start each chapter are particularly helpful. If you do nothing else, read these lists and find out if you are committing a dressing gaffe. If you can honestly say that you have not or never will commit any of the mistakes on the lists then you are ready to navigate the business casual workplace confidently. getAbstract recommends this book to anyone who is clueless or forgetful about how important appearance is to workplace success.

Summary

Clothes, Image and Success

Your clothes paint a visual picture of you. Whether you are aware of it or not, they speak volumes to the world about your personality and image. At work, they also project the type of status you have or want to achieve. Knowing what to wear and when is a learned art. Since the early 1970s however, the game of dressing for the office has gotten tougher. With the advent of "business casual," men and women have had to grapple with fuzzier standards of appropriate dress. In fact, it is even difficult to get two people to agree on a definition for the term "business casual." To some it is a golf shirt and Dockers, to others it is jeans and T-shirts. Even the law has gotten involved in office dress: You have to learn how to enforce a dress policy with appropriate language and terms so you do not open yourself to a sexual harassment or discrimination suit.

If you want to "look the part of an executive and achieve your professional goals," you can use these rules to learn how to make a terrific first impression, to demonstrate that you pay attention to detail and to assess your organization’s "dress culture" correctly. You can use your wardrobe ...

About the Author

Ann Marie Sabath is the author of the Business Etiquette and the International Business Etiquette series. She is the founder and president of At Ease, Inc., a nationally recognized company specializing in domestic and international etiquette training. Her training concepts and books have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, 20/20 and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

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