Apr 9 2013
Forbes Magazine, April 15, 2013, decided to do a “makeover” of Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft. The fact that Forbes decided to do this in their “Leaderboard” Section I found very interesting. It shows how important image is in business.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer has a Style Makeover
The most important aspect of your image and style is the fit of your clothes. It can enhance your physique or figure or undermine you. Here in the “After” part, Mr. Ballmer’s clothes fit much better and it makes a big difference. If you squint at the picture (just looking at the silhouette and not at the colors or anything else), he definitely looks much slimmer.
I once had a client with a 52” waist who was only about 5’8” tall. He did what so many men with larger bellies do: wear his pants below his belly, so his pant size was much smaller. Then he wore a huge, printed shirt over his pants. He was comfortable in this, but he looked much larger. Also, that is a casual look and he needed a more formal suit and a sport coat and slacks for some meetings. It took a lot for me to convince him to wear his slacks at his natural waist and tuck in his shirt (and wear a belt). Once he did this, especially with a suit jacket on, he looked so much better! (Style Alert: if a man or woman has a large middle and fits the pants to it, often the pant legs are extremely baggy and need to be taken in.)
Back to Mr. Ballmer’s “After” picture, I am not too wild about the bright blue jacket (it is brighter in the magazine than in this photo). I also think that the brown penny loafers and khaki pants look quite “preppy”, which I don’t think is his look or reflects his personality (but I haven’t met him). I also think these colors and the styling of the jacket look less powerful.
In my opinion, although the clothes in the “After” picture fit Steve Ballmer much better, I think the overall image misses the mark of a man in a very powerful position.
What do you think? I would love to hear comments.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
Leave a comment