Practical Career Strategies - Dress Code

I will randomly post gold nuggets of wisdom on practical career strategies. Most of them will be based on personal experience and several books I've read in the past. I appreciated these tips throughout my professional life and I'm certain you will too.

It doesn't matter if your workplace has a business casual dress policy. This is a trap. People (especially Executives) are judgmental and will totally assume certain things about you based on what you wear to work.

If you're a man, do not wear dress shorts to work. Seriously. 

I don't care if you look like Brad Pitt or that devastatingly handsome dude named Turkish from Snatch. You won't be able to pull of this look, even if your friends tell you it's totally rockin' the Miami Vice vibe.  You will never be promoted and people will laugh behind your back (or worse, they will laugh in your face).

Instead, wear jeans and a dress shirt. If your ego is out of control and you really really want to stand out, wear a suit jacket paired with a crisp white shirt and jeans. People will look at you and think Tom Ford.

If you're a woman, that outfit you bought from Le Chateau or Stitches or some other random store in a mall looks good. In a club. Or if you're at a bachelorette party. Or if you're doing some sort of extreme speed dating thing. Or if you're with Hugh Hefner.

How can you be taken seriously at work if you look like this while doing a presentation or chairing a meeting? How??? Exactly.