Last week I wrote about getting ready for a wedding and not remembering the last time I sat down and shined my shoes. I went on about the history of growing up in a workforce that dressed in a suit & tie, the importance of paying attention to the details, and not neglecting shining your shoes.
A few days later I was on the schedule to speak at my Born Toastmasters meeting. I hadn’t worked on anything new, so I decided to use my blogpost as a speech. It didn’t take too much practice as all of it was fresh in my head. I figured everyone would get the metaphor of mediocrity vs excellence and would have good things to say.
If you are not familiar with Toastmasters, it is an organization committed to practice public speaking, improve your communication and build leadership skills. I am a member of Born Toastmasters, which is an Advanced Club. Born has a history of having nationally recognized speakers in its membership and currently has several National Speaker Association members. It also includes business owners who want to improve their speaking delivery.
We employ a round-robin feedback session after each speaker. That way, the speaker gets a variety of different opinions on what worked, what didn’t, and how it can be improved. At a regular Toastmasters meeting, positive feedback is always the norm, detailing areas of improvement. At Born, we are all very positive, but will let you know when you go off the rails, because going off the rails here will spare you from going off the rails on the big stage.
Something interesting came out of my feedback session. A couple of people said that most workers in today’s workforce, especially tech workers, programmers and younger workers in general, don’t wear leather shoes to work. Most wear either casual shoes or basketball shoes. I was reminded that a good pair of Air Jordans probably are more expensive than some leather shoes at Johnston & Murphy.
One member told me her son (26 years of age) wears Air Jordans to work. He doesn’t shine them, he cleans them. He also takes out the shoelaces, washes them and then irons them. It is a different style. Something a Boomer would consider casual, is now standard dress. Of course, this varies by company and practice, but suit and tie is definitely not the norm.
When I got home, I told the family what happened over dinner. My daughter Morgan (who is a Gen Z), said, “They haven’t been to our place of work. We need to get dressed up each day. In fact, I like getting dressed up because it gives me much more confidence in the workplace.” She also added that if she had some Air Jordans, she’d leave them in the box and sell them for a profit several years later.
Throughout all of this, I guess I did not do a good job of getting my point across. The stories told were a metaphor – if you don’t pay attention to the details, you will accept mediocrity and not acheive excellence. But what I did learn is to always be cognizant of your audience and to be flexible. Also, always have your “A” game on when you speak at Born Toastmasters. They expect excellence.
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