Today I was walking to a client meeting in Bryant Park when I came across an elderly gentleman getting his shoes shined. A pretty normal scene in New York for sure but this guy was different. He was wearing black athletic shoes. Sneakers to some, tennis shoes to others (that is a rant for another post) but invariably not something you typically see being shined.
The man was reading a newspaper on a casual afternoon not in any real rush at all. He was wearing a tweed jacket, slacks, and had rather nicely combed hair. He did not appear to have anywhere to go but obviously took the time to doll up. It got me thinking, at what point did we all stop caring what we looked like?
Sure, some wear a suit to the office but, for the most part, it is out of obligation, not desire. While I truly appreciate the feeling a suit gives me, that is I like the way it makes me feel about myself, I don’t opt to wear a suit just running out for a stroll. To top that, even if I did, I cannot imagine caring enough about my Reebok shoes to take the time, or expense, to get them shined.
There is a huge link in my mind between the way I look on a particular day and the way I behave on that same day. While pragmatically I am confused by this as there is no particularly good reason why this happens, I notice a marked improvement in my posture, my tone, my use of the English language, and my overall interaction with the world around me when I am in my best suit. I am in several networking groups and see this reaction in others quite a bit as well. Conversely, when I am in jeans and a Grateful Dead tshirt, I don’t find myself in the same way. Odd.
While none of this is going to make me wear a suit more, nor suggest to peers they do the same, it did have me wondering what would happen if we all cared as much about our shoes as this guy did? Would we all be a little nicer?
