Early in Your Career? Want to Be Taken Seriously? Learn Shelton's Law of Descending Formality

"What really drove me crazy was that they didn't take me seriously!"

Early in my career, I was constantly frustrated by my bosses and older people in general. They thought they knew everything. They didn't. I thought I was smarter than they were. In many ways I was. But what really drove me crazy was that they didn't take me seriously! I mean, I wore the mandatory white shirt and tie to work and did what needed to be done. Sometimes, I even did 5% more than was necessary! Why wasn't I getting ahead?

That wasn't cool, dude! Cuz I was like, you know, WAY smart!

That's how I looked and spoke. The slang and changed since then. "That's cool!" became "That's hot!" and now apparently, it's "bussin". GOAT remains the same, by the way.

What I didn't know or even consider, was that in business, people judge you by three things:

1. The way you look

2. The way you carry yourself and your mannerisms

3. Your vocabulary & diction

I didn't look like anything more than a mail clerk (back in the old days, that was a low level job involving mail delivered to a company). I carried myself like a kid and spoke with the nuance and vocabulary of a surfer boy.

I Started Modeling - No Not That Kind!

Then a friend game me some books on cassette tape by a guy named Tony Robbins. "Unlimited Power" talked about the concept of "modeling". Put simply, that means to just try to look and act like the people who are successful than you, and you're more likely to become successful than you are right now. Pretty simple concept, eh?

When I finally grasped this, I bought an actual suit! I also bought one of those Word of the Day calendars and committed to using those words daily. And then the biggest game changer came: After learning that over 95% of Fortune 500 CEO's stated the public speaking was paramount to their success, I joined Toastmasters International - a club that costs ten bucks a month and teaches people from all walks of life, solid public speaking skills. I cannot recommend any endeavor more highly for people who are starting out or early in their careers.

My career took off and now that I run a successful consulting and executive search firm. While I usually attend meetings in polo or t-shirts, my advice to people who are early in their careers, is that they dress like I did, use advanced SAT words and forego the modern slang at work. At least until they "know the terrain" as Sun Tzu says (the Sun Tzu thing is what's called a "high-level reference". Know those, too!) 

Yes, there are obviously exceptions to every rule. For example, if the work culture and environment is like Zappo's, where everyone is in t-shirts and jeans, then no, a suit is not the most effective accoutrements.

But if you're at a law firm or accounting firm where the culture is to suit up? Suit up well.

Dress better than the average attorney. Speak a bit more intellectually than the average accountant.

However, don't overdo it. Don't use so much intellectually infused diction that you sound like you're a professor or that you come off like you're trying too hard. But sprinkling in words or high level references (like Plato's Allegory of the Caves or the Law of Diminishing Returns) makes an impact.

A perfect example of this is my own daughter, whom I dragged into Toastmasters, beginning at the age of thirteen. By the time she got her first job with a media powerhouse, she had been groomed for success. To the point that a C-Level told her to tone her speech and emails down a bit. This was a hipster company with clients like Dua Lipa and Lamborghini! So she did but the impact remained.

And when a certain client hired that company last year, they knew the perfect person to be the Project Lead for.... The White House! No she wasn't working for a president, so regardless of your politics, that's not a bad item on the resume for a 20-something.

Here's a couple of examples of using vocabulary and High-End References to boost your impact with people:

"This seems like a great firm with interesting work! I'm also impressed by the egalitarian environment."

"While those who bring in clients are nearly impervious, service partners are living under the Damocles Sword, nowadays." (in case you're not familiar with the fable, Google Damocles Sword!).

This goes for your emails and other written communication, as well. Create a Project in Chat GPT titled "My Email Writing Style". After you're done writing an email, use this prompt:

"Rewrite this in the style of a high-level executive, who graduated from Oxford or Harvard, has an advanced vocabulary, and is excellent at communicating with clients in the (Industry or Profession)" 

What you'll get will be a bit over-the-top - which is what you want. Because you're going to rewrite it yet again, to make it more "you".

If words like "ameliorate" and phrases like "Crossing the Rubicon" are seen more than ten times, it won't sound natural.

Look up any word or phrase you're not familiar with and memorize it. Then tone down your email and perhaps even add a bit of humor to humanize it. Finally, take the finished product and upload it with this prompt

"This is a sample of my email writing style. Do not rewrite or make suggestions, just analyze and learn from it."

Eventually, you'll learn how to write like a top level (but human!) professional and your bot will learn to write like you.

When you're early in your career, the key is to carry yourself with confidence and ensure that anyone listening to you, knows that you are intelligent and sophisticated. Because if there is one thing the current political and business environment is teaching us, it's that intelligent, sophisticated people are a rare commodity, nowadays.

When The Need for Certain Types of Formality Declines 

Today I ended a business meeting (wherein I was wearing a Deadpool t-shirt) by telling one of my favorite clients

 "Well it's time for me to go to feudal Japan and resume my efforts to become Shogun and unite the entire country."

She laughed and said it sounded like I was describing a video game. I told her it was in fact a vr video game (Shogun's Empire on Oculus is AWESOME btw).

Does this contradict my earlier advice? No.

Shelton's Law of Descending Formality proves that once you have an established brand, you also have the luxury of being less formal.

I have established a nationally known brand that has gotten me featured and quoted in the likes of Forbes, Success Magazine, Bloomberg etc. That and the fact that I'm 63 years old, means that my need for formality with my attire and referencing things like gaming has descended. I'm no longer a young kid who no one takes seriously.

To the contrary, the fact the I still use an advanced vocabulary and high-end references, while wearing Deadpool or Led Zeppelin t-shirts and mentioning that I'm a gamer, creates a powerful combination of brand - and relatable.

With new clients? Yeah, I still have a dozen suits hanging in the closet. A few of the newer ones are actually, quite skidibi !!!

Frederick Shelton is a Legal Rainmaking Consultant to law firms and lawyers. He can be reached at fs@sheltonsteele.com