4 ms·

This works the other way too. I know a guy who used to have a mohawk. He also represented his company (a mobile chip maker that was later acquired by ARM) to cu

This works the other way too. I know a guy who used to have a mohawk. He also represented his company (a mobile chip maker that was later acquired by ARM) to customers as the chief technical guy. I once asked him if the mohawk wasn't a problem with customers (who were mainly large, relatively traditional, tech bigco's). He said that it gave the customers the idea that "if he's allowed to wear that mohawk on customer visits, then he must be very good".

vkolencik 8y ago
This idea is expanded in Taleb's "Surgeons Should Not Look Like Surgeons": https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surgeons-23b0e2cf6d52 https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surg...
- curiousgal 8y ago
  As much insight as he offers, I've always found Taleb's writing style to be vexing.
  - alexpotato 8y ago
    Once I realized his goal in life is to be seen as a philosopher and not an easy-to-read author, that helped me mentally adjust my filter to make him easier to understand.
    - eerwrq 8y ago
      His problem isn't that he's hard to understand. His problem is he loses his point halfway through a chapter while he rants against eggheads, bureaucrats, and anyone else he doesn't like. Like, I get his point that experience beats expertise, and some experts don't really know any more than the general public. But he drives the point so hard that his later work is unreadable. He'll devote more time to bullying some breed of academic than he will to making his actual point.
- andyidsinga 8y ago
  Good section in that article "A BS detection Heuristic"
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
paulriddle 8y ago
I can see it working this way. I think there are still boundaries though, like you have to be hygenienic and not too extreme. I don't think a woman can dress too skimpy for a business meeting unless she is a stripper or a porn actress or something. With clothes you have a lot of time and space to convince other people that it's ok to trust you, even though you look like Lil Pump. Because you are in the same room, you are close, and they are invested, the expectations are set, and it would be too weird to make an issue out of your clothes if you carry yourself with conviction. This stuff doesn't work for things that can be classified as weak signal. Stuff like your resume, or name of your company. I follow author of Destroy All Software screencasts on Twitter and remember him mentioning that some companies refuse to buy his screencasts because of the seemngly silly name of his company (Destroy All Software). They think such collabaration is going to reflect on them badly. The signal is weak, it's just a few words on a screen, so it's easy to say no. Clothing has relatively weak effect compared to your style of communication. You can't dress your way up to being a CEO of a multimillion dollar company, but you can talk your way up there. I don't mean lying, manipulating, and playing office politics. I mean being as intense as Gary Vaynerchuk. Just watch his videos, you can see effective he is at dealing with people. In my real life I have never seen anyone who comes even close. Everybody around me is ridden with flaws: some have severe speech impediments, some are too passive, some lack ambition, some (everybody actually) are too anxious, some are just clueless. I think it's smart to aspire to be more like Gary Vaynerchuk. I don't want to be like Paul Graham, or Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk, or Linus Torvalds. They are interesting people, but they are not free. They are stifled, rigid, and not cool. They manage to be successful leaders despite their crappy social skills. I mean, have you seen Elon's interview on Joe Rogan? Cringy! I mean, I love Elon Musk, but he should emulate Tony Robbins or somebody, it would be one of the most effective things for Tesla. I know very little about Tesla, but I'm sure there is a lot of failure going in communication when Elon is involved.
- pjc50 8y ago
  The double standard definitely works against women; they have more flexibility but that just means more unspoken rules to break, and a big challenge to be taken seriously that usually results in dressing more seriously than their male colleagues. And most of the outfits don't have pockets. I'm also thinking of Naomi Wu drawing a tremendous amount of flak for skimpy outfits on Youtube, despite her pointing out that it was extremely hot in that part of China and not much skimpier than regular streetwear.
Taylor_OD 8y ago
I have a work uniform that blank t shirts and skinny jeans. Teva sandals in the summer and red wing boots in the winter. I've got a shaved head and a big old beard. Most people in my industry are focused on looking really impressive and presentable to sway clients (CTO's). I'd rather look like one of their engineers than a sales guy. I can't really say if I'd be more successful if I looked liked everyone else but I can say people certainly don't forget me.
- tim333 8y ago
  Reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_npWFFuYus3I/THtNIsIl46I/AAAAAAAAFhA/dV8ehl4k4vI/s1600/8206.png http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_npWFFuYus3I/THtNIsIl46I/AAAAAAAAFh...
wolco 8y ago
I've always thought this. The best lawyers seem to have crazy hair. When lettermen appeared with that beard on his new netflix show it told me he made it.
zczc 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling
- bg4 8y ago
  See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption

vkolencik 8y ago

This idea is expanded in Taleb's "Surgeons Should Not Look Like Surgeons": https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surgeons-23b0e2cf6d52 https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surg...

curiousgal 8y ago
As much insight as he offers, I've always found Taleb's writing style to be vexing.
- alexpotato 8y ago
  Once I realized his goal in life is to be seen as a philosopher and not an easy-to-read author, that helped me mentally adjust my filter to make him easier to understand.
  - eerwrq 8y ago
    His problem isn't that he's hard to understand. His problem is he loses his point halfway through a chapter while he rants against eggheads, bureaucrats, and anyone else he doesn't like. Like, I get his point that experience beats expertise, and some experts don't really know any more than the general public. But he drives the point so hard that his later work is unreadable. He'll devote more time to bullying some breed of academic than he will to making his actual point.
andyidsinga 8y ago
Good section in that article "A BS detection Heuristic"

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

paulriddle 8y ago

I can see it working this way. I think there are still boundaries though, like you have to be hygenienic and not too extreme. I don't think a woman can dress too skimpy for a business meeting unless she is a stripper or a porn actress or something. With clothes you have a lot of time and space to convince other people that it's ok to trust you, even though you look like Lil Pump. Because you are in the same room, you are close, and they are invested, the expectations are set, and it would be too weird to make an issue out of your clothes if you carry yourself with conviction. This stuff doesn't work for things that can be classified as weak signal. Stuff like your resume, or name of your company. I follow author of Destroy All Software screencasts on Twitter and remember him mentioning that some companies refuse to buy his screencasts because of the seemngly silly name of his company (Destroy All Software). They think such collabaration is going to reflect on them badly. The signal is weak, it's just a few words on a screen, so it's easy to say no. Clothing has relatively weak effect compared to your style of communication. You can't dress your way up to being a CEO of a multimillion dollar company, but you can talk your way up there. I don't mean lying, manipulating, and playing office politics. I mean being as intense as Gary Vaynerchuk. Just watch his videos, you can see effective he is at dealing with people. In my real life I have never seen anyone who comes even close. Everybody around me is ridden with flaws: some have severe speech impediments, some are too passive, some lack ambition, some (everybody actually) are too anxious, some are just clueless. I think it's smart to aspire to be more like Gary Vaynerchuk. I don't want to be like Paul Graham, or Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk, or Linus Torvalds. They are interesting people, but they are not free. They are stifled, rigid, and not cool. They manage to be successful leaders despite their crappy social skills. I mean, have you seen Elon's interview on Joe Rogan? Cringy! I mean, I love Elon Musk, but he should emulate Tony Robbins or somebody, it would be one of the most effective things for Tesla. I know very little about Tesla, but I'm sure there is a lot of failure going in communication when Elon is involved.

pjc50 8y ago
The double standard definitely works against women; they have more flexibility but that just means more unspoken rules to break, and a big challenge to be taken seriously that usually results in dressing more seriously than their male colleagues. And most of the outfits don't have pockets. I'm also thinking of Naomi Wu drawing a tremendous amount of flak for skimpy outfits on Youtube, despite her pointing out that it was extremely hot in that part of China and not much skimpier than regular streetwear.

Taylor_OD 8y ago

I have a work uniform that blank t shirts and skinny jeans. Teva sandals in the summer and red wing boots in the winter. I've got a shaved head and a big old beard. Most people in my industry are focused on looking really impressive and presentable to sway clients (CTO's). I'd rather look like one of their engineers than a sales guy. I can't really say if I'd be more successful if I looked liked everyone else but I can say people certainly don't forget me.

tim333 8y ago
Reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_npWFFuYus3I/THtNIsIl46I/AAAAAAAAFhA/dV8ehl4k4vI/s1600/8206.png http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_npWFFuYus3I/THtNIsIl46I/AAAAAAAAFh...

wolco 8y ago

I've always thought this. The best lawyers seem to have crazy hair. When lettermen appeared with that beard on his new netflix show it told me he made it.

zczc 8y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling

bg4 8y ago
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption