It's Pink Shirt Day

Pink Shirt Day: Being changed in such a great way that others clearly notice, and even comment directly or among themselves that you have changed--and for the better.

So how did I come up with the name, "Pink Shirt Day"?

I would venture a guess that most men don't even own, let alone wear pink shirts.  If I surveyed a hundred men, I might hear a hundred different reasons for that.  Sometimes it's just a cultural thing.  When I worked in the Middle East, one of my colleagues was even asked to go home and change out of, yes, the very nice pink shirt he had worn to the office.

Don't think your co-workers don't observe your office attire.  If you are like me, you have a limited wardrobe, and my office attire usually includes "starch white" above the waist.
There are those rare times that I spend a little extra on a nice tie, but rarer still is some verbal acknowledgment that I made the right shopping decision--"nice tie."

But people don't (and really shouldn't) care that I splurged for the Hugo Boss Italian Silk, when the Roundtree and Yorke would have been just fine.

The professionals I work with do care about how approachable I am.  About my leadership qualities.  How inspirational I am (or I'm not).  How I help them solve problems or make their jobs a little easier.

Sometimes we need to change.  Radically.

Why?  Because we all have areas of our personalities, "chinks in our armor" that hold us back.  Keep us from moving up.  Negatively affect our personal (and perhaps department and/or company) brand.  Stop us from getting the "Exceeds" rating on our service review.

And like with any other personal improvement, this too begins with the personal awareness (or perhaps more painfully from peer or superior feedback) that the change is necessary.  And the commitment to see the change through.

It's pink shirt day.  Let it begin with me.