I love finance, I love learning, I love business, I love technology, I love reading coding books, but I also love being a goofball.
That is why I believe in being professionally unprofessional. Sure, there are times that professionalism is called for, but for me, those don’t make the majority of my day.
It’s easy to grab a pre-fabricated professional persona off of a shelf and be another cog in the machine, but you lose your identity in it. People are scared to venture out and be themselves for fear that it might lose them a few bucks.
My opinion: if you don’t want to give me a few bucks because I have a personality, like to enjoy my work, and smile or laugh while I’m doing it, keep your money.
My Bear Suit
As a business owner interviewing people for a job, if I choose to do it wearing a bear suit, you better believe I’m going to do it, and the person that handles the situation the best will get extra points. That is obviously a situational thing. I probably wouldn’t wear a bear suit when interviewing for an accountant, but I would probably wear blue jeans :-D. If there is one thing I’ve learned from working in large corporations, it’s that I work best with people who are like-minded.
I’ve been paired up with the sharp-shooting, hot-shot professionals, and I’ve been paired up with average joes with a great work ethic and sense of humor. Guess which pairing got the most work done, and came out enjoying it the most? If I can find people as weird as me, then double score because you know there will be a lot of creativity.
Unprofessional Professionals
I know I’m not alone in this as the list of people who want to work for Google, Pixar, and numerous other legendary companies continues to grow. I always hear about the slides at Google, Pixar’s Foosball, and the toys at ThinkGeek.
People want to be themselves, and they want to do it in different ways. For some, that means putting on a suit and tie, for others (like Mark Zuckerberg) that means a t-shirt, blue jeans, and sandals. Of course, your place of employment will probably determine what you wear, and how you act, that’s why it is important to find a place that suits your needs.
As an aside, Mark Zuckerberg appears to still be getting flak from people about his attire which completely alludes me. If the guy doesn’t want to wear a suit leave him alone. Personally, I’m happy that he continues to wear what he wants, if investors walk out the door, that is their decision. They have to remember that they are sitting in a room with him because of what he accomplished in jeans and sandals.
Like everything, it needs to be in moderation. I have a great sense of humor, and it’s on constantly, but I assure you that I’m not wearing a bear suit as I type this. I put on my semi-serious hat and got to work. I just think there are times that you just want to rip the tie off and run out of the office, or jump on the desk and air guitar to your favorite song? What are your thoughts? I can’t be the only one who wants to air guitar in a storm trooper costume, right?
Excellent Reads:
- For those who lean towards the professional side, or want to know more about being professional, Canadian Finance Blog provides some job interview tips.
- If you’re crazier than me, then Len has a great article about 10 products that failed horribly. Hopefully they didn’t spend all of their time air guitaring on desks (all in moderation)
- For those like me who want to do more freelancing, Money Crush provided us a road map on freelancing success with less effort!
- Dr. Dean has a great article that talks about following your dreams instead of just – dreaming.
- Afford Anything reminds us that moderation, and knowing when to say no will lead us to success.
- Kevin of Invest it wisely highlights some of the mental anchors that hold many of us from our true potential.