Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Best Dressed Leaders

The Vanity Fair’s 2010 Best Dressed List is out and once again, I was not selected. Quite a disappointment since I do make sure to dress every day. Granted some days are better than others, but I’m generally neat and tidy…except in high humidity days when my hair is well, shall we say, less than perfect.

But the list got me to thinking about what it means to be ‘best dressed’….especially when I saw Lady Gaga listed as one of the best dressed. She certainly has some incredible and outrageous costumes, but ‘best dressed’? I’m used to seeing women on the list who wear Chanel and Prada…not feathers, masks and mirrors.

When I started working the ‘best dressed’ professional woman wore a navy blue suit, blue pumps, white hose and a white blouse with a rounded collar. We all looked alike and that seemed important because our view of what a professional woman looked like was in part based on how she was dressed.

But I love that Lady Gaga is on the Best Dressed List. Why? Because the door is now open for others to be on the list that may have never been considered. My paradigm has shifted in who I expect to see on the ‘Best Dressed’ list. And that made me think about leadership. We need to shift our personal paradigm to look beyond the ‘best dressed leadership list’ and see potential in those who don’t fit the leadership mold. We should be opening doors for women who may not own a navy blue suit but have the potential to do incredible things.

So what about you? Does your list include both ‘navy blue suits’ and ‘feathers and mirrors’?

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