Issue #48

In this issue:

Word to the Whys

"If you are not in fashion, you are nobody."
Lord Chesterfield, 1750 A.D.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.
Benjamin Franklin

"Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new."
Henry David Thoreau

"Material things aside, we need no advice but approval."
Coco Chanel

"Our self image, strongly held, essentially determines what we become."
Dr. Matthew Maltz - Author, Psycho Cybernetics

"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months."
Oscar Wilde

"To be a knife thrower in the circus, they don't let you start out throwing at a live woman. They probably start you out with a little girl."
Jack Handey - Author of Deep Thoughts

See Eric in Action! Click for a video preview of Eric's
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Links of Note...

The answers are just a few clicks away...

Getting Them to Give a Damn: How to Get Your Front Line to Care About Your Bottom Line
the new book by Eric Chester reveals the management techniques that leading-edge employers are using to get these quirky, book-smart, and streetwise employees—Eric calls them 'kidployees'—to contribute in innovative and entrepreneurial ways.

Available now. Order your copy today! -more-

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War of the Worlds: the world of fashion, that is…

It's once again back-to-school time, and kids everywhere are fighting authority, hoping to gain new ground in the never-ending battle of personal expression. This war is not confined to school campuses, as it has spread to the front lines of every American business that relies on 16-to-24-year-olds as the primary interface between their products and their customers.

However, in Forney, Texas, the rapidly growing suburb of Dallas, adults have drawn a firm line in the sand. I was there to present an opening day staff program to 700 teachers and staff for the local school district, and came away with some very definite opinions about the reasons for setting standards for youth appearance and grooming.

Five years ago, the Forney Independent School District (ISD) instituted a strict dress code that falls short of requiring students to wear specific uniforms, but does require them to adhere to an unwavering code of uniformity. The policy mandates that students come to school in navy or khaki pants/skirts/shorts, solid-color logo-free polo-style shirts, and close-toed shoes. Clothing must be neatly worn and tucked in, with no exposed midriffs, no sagging pants, no hats, no facial piercings, and no exposed tattoos.

This has not been an easy policy to institute and defend. Forney ISD fought this battle all the way through the 4th Circuit Appellate Federal Court, one step below the US Supreme Court, and won. The students complain, as do some of the parents. But the school directors and administrators believe that some battles are worth the bloodshed; and this is one where they aren't about to throw up the white flag anytime soon.

Why?

It's simple, really. There is no denying that how you look determines how you feel, how you are perceived and how you perceive others, how you act, how you behave, and ultimately, how well you perform. Take 'freedom of personal expression' out of the equation, particularly when you're applying standards to a generation that seems hell-bent on pushing the fashion envelope often to the point of indecency, and you can focus your efforts on the things that matter most; like, for example, getting a quality education.

In Forney ISD, the dress uniformity virtually eliminates a great many of the problems that other districts agonize over before they become problems. As one who has visited more than a thousand schools throughout America, I know that a dress code—or the lack thereof—plays a key role in student discipline, achievement, and performance. And keep in mind, Forney students are still free to wear anything they want… as long as they are not on school grounds.

You might be thinking, "Yeah, but this is a free country, Eric! Everyone should have the freedom to dress and look anyway they want without being judged by anyone!" Yes they should; and I should get an automatic pass through security lines at the airport, but who said life is fair?

Physical appearance matters. We don't want the anesthesiologist who puts us under before we go into surgery to be sporting a lip ring and a barbed-wire tattoo around their neck, and we really don't want to see the boxer shorts or thong underwear of the kid who's serving us our morning mocha. After all, it's not by accident that our military has always enforced an unwavering uniform dress code. Physical appearance matters.

Hair and clothing styles have always been a way for coming-of-age youth to gain personal identity and distance themselves from their parents. But while these differentiators are temporary, Gen Whys don't stop there. A Mayo Clinic survey of 454 undergraduate students in 2002 found that more than half had some type of body piercing - excluding women's earlobes. A recent Harris Interactive poll found that 42 percent of Americans under the age of 30 had at least one tattoo. It's not uncommon for children who aren't even of a legal driving age to have multiple tattoos.

This means that, irregardless of what industry you are in, your present and/or future workforce may have indelible markings that your customers simply won't tolerate. And it may prove devastating to your business to discard the interests of the first group in order to appeal to the second. Here's why…

According to employment futurist Roger Herman, America is heading squarely into "an impending labor shortage that will make the nineties look like a picnic." The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be 167.7 million jobs in the U.S. by 2010. But only 159.9 million workers will be available to fill those jobs. Until then, growth in the number of Americans 65 and older will eclipse the growth rate of age groups needed to replace them.

Needing to attract young workers—even at the risk of alienating older patrons—a lot of companies have begun significantly relaxing employee dress code standards. McDonald's has recently solicited the services of rap mogul Sean Combs and other hip fashion designers to create employee uniforms that will actually bolster recruiting by luring prospective kidployees. On the flip side of the patty, Pal's Sudden Service, the only restaurant to ever win the coveted Baldrige Award for Quality and Service, refuses to relax its rigid dress and appearance standards. In fact, if a Pal's employee is caught out of uniform, even on their way to and from the job, they are subject to immediate termination.

Make no mistake about it, the battle lines have been drawn, and the troops on both sides are arming themselves for a bloodbath. If it hasn't done so already, your organization will soon have to firmly decide where it stands when it comes to employee dress, and make a stand.

Are you ready to pander to the fashion demands of your young workers at the risk of turning off your aging consumers? Or, are you prepared to dig in your heels and insist that your kidployees dress to please your more conservative aging customer, even if it means your young labor pool might follow P. Diddy all the way to the arches?

Put aside quotas, marketing campaigns, branding, global expansion and the like. Your employee appearance/dress code is one issue that will dramatically impact your bottom line, if it hasn't already. It demands attention, discussion, a direction, a mandate, and perhaps even a fight. . .

Forney ISD, McDonald's, and Pal's each know where they stand. Do you?

• For a related take see Going toe-to-toe on office etiquette from the Monday, August 15, 2005 edition of USA Today.

Are these meetings of interest to you or your organization?

Eric will be keynoting two national conventions this fall that may be of interest to you, and for which you may be eligible to attend:

MUFSO - The 47th Annual Multi-Unit Foodservice Operators Conference in Orlando, Sept. 18-21, 2005. View the conference brochure (PDF).

The 7th Annual Help Desk Professionals Conference and Expo in San Diego, Oct 26th-28th, 2005.

Whys Cracks

FOUL: Administrators at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School in Ft. Worth, TX spotted an 8-inch bat in a car parked in the lot. They traced the auto to sophomore Cory Henson, a junior varsity baseball player, and pulled him out of class so he could unlock the car for a search. "Weapon!" they cried as they confiscated the tiny bat that had fallen off a baseball trophy. Per the district's zero tolerance policy, Henson was suspended pending an expulsion hearing. Police declined to file criminal charges, and Henson's mother wondered why the school didn't have any problem with the full-size aluminum baseball bat that was also in the car. At the hearing, school officials declared the tiny bat was not a weapon and ended the suspension. (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
Sure… Once they realized that they had awarded him that trophy they pretty much had to!

DOOGIE WHO? "We all call him Dr. Devon now," says Taru Mills of Oakland, Calif. Her son Devon, 5, helped her deliver his baby sister on the stairs of their apartment building when his mother couldn't make it to the hospital. "Devon's eyes were as big as his head, but he didn't panic at all," mom says. Was the boy scared? "Nope," he answered the reporter's question directly. Does he want to be a doctor? "Yep." And does the 5-year-old know where babies come from? "Yep," he said, finally adding some detail: "Not storks." (Oakland Tribune)
Well, that's more than some teens know.

Did You Know?

More than half of Eric's speaking engagements are for repeat clients:

Here are a few recent bookings, followed by the number of times Eric has presented for each:

• Harley-Davidson (2)
• Wells Fargo (4)
• Hy-Vee Supermarkets (5)
• Figaro's Pizza (2)
• Michigan Association of School Boards (2)
• CITGO (2)
• Society for Human Resource Management (6)

Inquire here to find out how to bring Eric to your event!