I recently went to see my doctor for a consultation. While sitting in the waiting area, I was surprised to see a group of young men dressed in casual shirts and jeans, wearing rubber boots and carrying backpacks. I was even more surprised when I was told that they were medical representatives, waiting to see the doctor and make their presentations.
This immediately took me back to the early 1960s, when I myself worked for some time as a medical representative with Glaxo. How different those days were!
In those days, we were expected to dress formally. A white shirt, preferably with a necktie, was almost considered compulsory, and proper leather shoes completed the outfit. It was taken for granted that our hair would be neatly trimmed and combed. Turning up to meet a doctor looking untidy or casually dressed would simply not have been acceptable.
Our appearance was considered an important part of our professional image.
As medical representatives, we were not merely selling a product. We were the face of the pharmaceutical company we represented. We had to meet doctors, introduce new medicines, explain their uses and answer questions about them. We therefore had to look the part.
I still remember the importance attached to being properly dressed. Before leaving home in the morning, one made sure that the shirt was clean and properly ironed, the trousers were neatly pressed, the shoes were polished and the tie was correctly worn. A quick glance in the mirror was not just about vanity—it was part of preparing oneself for the working day.
And then there was the hair!
A young man was expected to have neatly trimmed hair, properly combed and certainly not falling all over his face. Looking smart was regarded as a sign of discipline and self-respect.
How different things are today!
The sight of those young medical representatives in the doctor's waiting room made me realise just how dramatically our attitudes towards professional dressing have changed. Jeans, casual shirts, rubber footwear and backpacks would have been completely out of place when I was working in the 1960s. Today, they seem perfectly normal.
Of course, I understand that times change. Fashion changes, lifestyles change and workplaces change. What was regarded as essential 50 or 60 years ago may seem unnecessarily formal today.
Young people also have different priorities. Comfort, practicality and convenience have become much more important. If someone spends hours travelling from one doctor's clinic to another, carrying samples, literature and other material, a backpack and comfortable shoes may make much more sense than a formal briefcase and polished leather shoes.
So perhaps I should not be too critical!
After all, does wearing a tie make someone more knowledgeable? Does a beautifully pressed shirt make someone more honest or competent? Certainly not.
A person's character, ability, knowledge and sincerity are far more important than the clothes he or she wears.
Yet I cannot help feeling that something has been lost in the move towards even more casual dressing.
There was a certain dignity attached to dressing appropriately for the occasion. One dressed differently for the office, for a wedding, for church, for a formal dinner or for a visit to the doctor. Clothing helped us recognise that different occasions called for different standards.
Today, the boundaries seem to have become blurred.
We see people attending formal functions in clothes that would once have been considered suitable only for a casual outing. Young people sometimes arrive at interviews dressed as though they are going shopping. Even in professional environments, casual wear has increasingly become the norm.
Perhaps the most important word here is ‘appropriate’.
I am not suggesting that everyone should return to the dress codes of the 1960s. That would neither be realistic nor desirable. I am simply suggesting that we should retain the idea that the occasion matters.
A medical representative meeting a doctor is in a professional situation. A lawyer appearing in court has an obvious responsibility to dress appropriately. Someone attending a wedding would normally make an effort to dress well. A person going for an important job interview would, one hopes, still think carefully about his or her appearance.
There is nothing wrong with being comfortable. There is, however, a difference between being casual and being careless.
And perhaps that was what really struck me when I saw those young men in the doctor's waiting room.
It was not the jeans that bothered me. It was not the rubber boots or even the backpacks. It was the sudden realisation that an entire generation has grown up with a completely different understanding of what constitutes professional dress.
For someone of my generation, clothing was part of the language of respect. If you were meeting someone professionally, you made an effort to look presentable because you respected the person you were meeting and the purpose of the meeting.
Today, respect is expressed in different ways. A young person may arrive in jeans and still be extremely polite, knowledgeable, efficient and well prepared. Perhaps we should judge people more by what they do than by what they wear.
And yet, appearances do matter.
Whether we like it or not, people form impressions of us within seconds of meeting us. Our clothes, grooming, posture and general appearance all contribute to that first impression. It may not always be fair, but it is simply human nature.
There is also something to be said for taking pride in one's appearance. Dressing neatly can make us feel more confident and can put us in the right frame of mind for the work we are about to do.
When I think back to my days with Glaxo, I realise that the white shirt, tie and polished shoes were not merely a dress code. They were part of a particular way of life.
We were taught that if we were going to represent a respected company, we had to conduct ourselves accordingly. We had to be punctual, courteous, well-groomed and prepared. Our appearance was simply one part of that larger sense of professionalism.
Perhaps that is the real lesson.
We do not need to bring back the compulsory tie. We do not need to insist that every professional wear formal shoes or a freshly pressed white shirt.
But perhaps we should preserve the values that lay behind those old-fashioned dress codes: neatness, self-respect, discipline, courtesy and consideration for others.
Clothes do not make the person. Character does.
But the way we dress can sometimes tell the world that we care enough to make an effort.
So, are we living under a new dress code?
Certainly.
And I am quite prepared to accept that the white shirt, necktie and polished leather shoes of my medical-representative days belong to another era.
But as I watched those young men waiting to see my doctor, I could not help wondering what they would think if they could see a group of medical representatives from the early 1960s walking into that same waiting room!
Perhaps they would smile at our ties and polished shoes.
And perhaps we would smile at their jeans, rubber boots and backpacks.
Times change. Fashion changes. Dress codes change.
But surely, some things never go out of fashion—being neat, being respectful and taking pride in what we do.
(Walter Vieira is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India - FIMC. He was a successful corporate executive for 14 years, capping his career as Head of marketing for a Pharma multinational, for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka- and then pioneered marketing consulting in India in 1975. As a consultant, he has worked across four continents. He was the first Asian elected Chairman of ICMCI, the world apex body of consultants in 45 countries, in 1997. He is the author of 16 books, a business columnist, an international conference speaker and has been a visiting professor in Marketing in the US, Europe, and Asia for over 40 years. He was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Consulting in 2005, and for Marketing in 2009. He now spends much of his time in NGO work - Consumer Education and Research Centre, IDOBRO, and some others.)
