The company dress code has been out of fashion for years, especially in younger industries such as tech and marketing. But in the halls of power, business formal was still the law of the land.

That changed this week as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave senators permission to wear whatever they choose. Much of the resulting media attention — and backlash — has focused on Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), whose signature look is a combo of gym shorts and hoodies. Critics say it trivializes the seriousness of lawmaking; supporters say it reflects modern workplace standards just as congresswomen finally going sleeveless did in 2017.

We humbly suggest that a reasonable compromise might be business casual — not senators’ Sunday best, but not their ragged sweats either. But hey, our great nation isn’t exactly known for reasonable compromises lately.

Do you prefer comfy or buttoned-up at your business? Tell us your opinion at b.newsletter@gmail.com.

Good Awkward: Embrace your cringe in the workplace

Hiring: Why structured, not casual, interviews are better

The Big Short: The film still teaches us to avoid the herd

(Source: Henna Pryor)

In Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become the Bravest You, executive coach Henna Pryor makes the case for discomfort. She spoke with b. about why we shouldn’t run from our inner weirdo at the office.

b: What made you write Good Awkward?

Henna Pryor: I’ve spent my whole life feeling awkward! I was born of immigrant parents. My dad is from India, my mom is from Pakistan. So, my clothes were always a bit different. My food smelled a bit different. … My name was Henna [and] all I wanted to be was a Jennifer or Samantha.

So, mm-hmm, awkwardness was an emotion that just felt deeply familiar to me and something that was tied to my upbringing. And it wasn’t until probably college that I started to find other people who … allowed their bumpy edges to show, and I started to lean in a little bit more to my authentic self.

b: What defines “good” awkward?

Pryor: Well, I’ll start with the definition of awkward. [It’s] what we feel when the person that we believe ourselves to be … is, for a moment, at odds with the person that other people see on display. … Good awkward would be understanding that tendency and marching ahead anyway in spite of the concern that what you’re saying isn’t polished, understanding that it’s a step you are taking towards social growth. 

b.: You write that beginners take more innovative risks because they know that they won’t be perfect at what they’re doing. How do we keep embracing risk as we grow professionally?

Pryor: If we were to take a new job, if we were to take a new role within our company, if we were to move into leadership for the first time — at every inflection point, every transition point — we are in some way, shape, or form a beginner again. … And often where we get a little trapped is expecting that [we] should not look like a beginner. 

And so, the willingness to stay in that [beginner] mentality and recalibrate our expectations — about how people should see us or how we should show up — is critical to not just tolerating but marching face first into those situations as we continue to grow. … When we use that identity language, “I am awkward,” it is a trap — it’s a box of our own making — when the reality is awkwardness, by definition, is an emotion … and like any other emotion, it can be transient.

b.: As a leader, being too awkward could make your staff doubt your abilities. How can leaders balance authenticity with authority?

Pryor: Yes, there is a line we need to tow. … If a leader is someone who is generally looked at as competent, who generally knows what they’re talking about in a certain sphere of influence, then from time to time it is extremely humanizing — and in fact, increases likability, trust, forgiveness, a number of factors — when they are able to say, “Hey, you know what? I didn’t get that quite right.”

So strategically, in areas where they’ve built trust from their team, those awkward moments — admissions of missteps and blunders — actually have a very positive effect. … And the research proves that [modeling this behavior] is really good for creating more innovation. The ideas that follow are more regenerative by letting people bring that guard down.

🤿 DIVE DEEPER

(Source: Shutterstock)

Dr. Ben Baran is an associate professor at Cleveland State University and co-founder of Elevating What Works.

You can maximize the probability of hiring good employees and not hiring bad ones by changing how you conduct your interviews: use structured interviews instead of unstructured.

Unstructured interviews are casual conversations that many hiring managers have with job candidates in which the interviewer essentially asks, “What’s on your mind?” to “get a feel” for the quality of the job seeker. While less intense, this approach makes it easy for unhelpful biases to creep into the decision-making process.

The structured interview, in contrast, starts with a hard look at the job itself. One place to start is the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), which is a free resource sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. You should consider items such as:

• What are the essential functions of the job?
• What are the behaviors that a successful employee would exhibit?  
• What types of knowledge, skills, or abilities (KSAs) does a person need to perform those behaviors?

Prepare questions that will spotlight each candidate’s level of those KSAs. You can ask about situations they’ve faced (“Tell me about a time when…”) and how they might approach a problem (“Tell me what you would do…”). Most importantly, ensure all of your questions relate to the job for which you’re hiring.

Identify what good and bad answers might sound like in consultation with others who are knowledgeable about the job. Be sure to ask every candidate the same questions, and rate their responses to each by comparing what they say with what you’ve identified beforehand as good and bad potential answers.

When complete, this process can give you an excellent source of data to compare all the candidates and choose the best one for the job.

(Source: Warner Bros)

Who would bet against a sure thing?

Director Adam McKay’s 2015 film The Big Short, now on Netflix, tells the story of how Wall Street firms sold a trillion dollars of toxic assets throughout the ‘00s and crashed the world economic system. It also tells the real-life story of a few savvy fund managers (played by Brad Pitt, Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, and Steve Carell) who defied conventional wisdom by shorting the red-hot real estate market.

The Big Short’s skeptical protagonists don’t follow the financial herd’s get-rich-quick mentality. They personally visit housing developments across the U.S. and interview loan officers, realtors, and home speculators, assembling pieces of the puzzle to reveal an oncoming economic implosion. They bide their time, withstanding the fury of their own investors, confident that sooner or later, trends will go bust and patience will pay off.

Looking at hard data from various sources will enable you to make decisions based on facts, not gut feelings. That sounds obvious, but how many people lost their savings as Bitcoin faltered last year? (We doubt Pitt, Gosling, Bale, or Carell have plans to portray FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried next.)

The Big Short is on our list of the must-see business movies of the 2010s.

• 1791: British scientist Michael Faraday was born. His innovations in electromagnetism sparked excitement — and the $1.89 billion microwave-oven market.
• 1949: The American Business Women’s Association formed. For 74 years, it has worked to break barriers and provide better opportunities for women all over the U.S. 
• 1955: The U.K.’s first-ever TV advertisement aired, promoting Gibbs SR toothpaste. Unilever owns the Gibbs brand today.
• 1994: The first episode of Friends aired. To this day, the show earns more than $1 billion a year, which is almost enough to pay for the characters’ Greenwich Village apartments.

Written by Carolyn Neuhausen and Ali Saleh. Comic by John McNamee.