7 Good Grooming Tips to Enhance Leadership

Credibility
MAY 5, 2014 by KARIMA MARIAMA-ARTHUR
Good grooming—as quiet as it’s kept—plays an essential role in the leadership equation. Why should it
matter? It impacts your credibility. And, credibility is necessary for anyone who functions in a leadership
role. To be influential, people have to trust and respect you, even if they don’t necessarily “like” you. Good
grooming helps to “seal the deal.” And, as far as impressions go—whether the first or 50th—you need to have
some “good grooming” skin in the game to ensure that the ones you leave are positive. [space]

1. Practice Good Personal Hygiene

The basics of good grooming begin with good hygiene. What is good hygiene? Of course it includes regular
bathing, brushing your teeth, applying deodorant, and washing your hair. But, it also includes changing your
under garments daily and wearing clean (unsoiled and sweat-free) clothing. Sometimes trying to get extra
mileage out of an outfit just isn’t worth it! Taking short cuts in personal hygiene results in embarrassment
and sends the message that you don’t care. And, ultimately, it destroys your professional credibility. [space]
2. Be “Hands On”
Being “hands on” means making sure that your hands and nails are clean and well-groomed. Get regular
manicures and perform maintenance in between visits. If you wear acrylic nails, make sure you visit your
technician every 2 weeks. Keep nails at a professionally-appropriate length and avoid loud, outlandish nail
colors and designs. And, always keep lotion handy to assure that your hands aren’t dry and cracked. There is
nothing worse than extending your hand for an embrace and having the other person cringe. [space]
3. Consider Your Coif
Having a clean, well-groomed mane is the crowning glory for every professional. Wash hair
regularly, especially if you work out, to avoid oil buildup and odor. Moisturize and trim often to avoid split ends,
which damage hair and make it appear unkempt. Scheduling regular visits with your stylist will also keep your
hairstyle looking “fresh” and chic. Make no mistake—taking the extra time to groom your hair each day will add
an appropriate layer of polish to your overall appearance. [space]
4. Persuade with Pearly Whites
Of course brushing and flossing your teeth daily are important. But, regular maintenance is equally important.
Do you see your dentist for cleanings twice a year? Are you getting exams and preventative maintenance to
avoid dealing with major dental work down the line? Do you whiten? A bright, healthy smile helps you to exude
confidence, which is important because your teeth are one of the first things people notice when they look at
you. [space]
5. Dress for Success
Dressing for success is essentially wearing your role. Make sure that the expectation of your leadership is
congruent with the clothes that you wear. Before you ever open your mouth, you tell a story by the way that
you present yourself to the world. What do your clothes say about you? Are you taken seriously? Could you
benefit from a wardrobe upgrade? If so, consider hiring a stylist to help you do some personal branding, or
spend some time on Pinterest to see what an ideal wardrobe might look like, and enlist the help of
friends. Wearing your role is absolutely essential to establishing and maintaining leadership credibility. [space]
6. Step Out, “Sole Sister”
A cobbler once confessed that he could recognize a “lousy” pair of shoes from a mile away. And, he could. His
point was that in business, you can’t quite get away with “faking” it and hoping that others won’t
notice. Someone always will. What was his advice? Invest in a good pair or two of high-quality shoes reserved
for your professional wardrobe. Then, add more when you can and build around them in the meantime. But,
not with visibly worn or professionally- inappropriate styles, which are forbidden. Bottom line? High-quality
shoes are an indispensable component of your professional wardrobe and should be seen as a necessary
investment in wearing your role. [space]
7. Be Scent | Sational
Scent adds a layer of finesse to grooming, but should not be overdone. Wafting loud and offensive layers of
scent around the office is probably not the best way to flex your leadership muscle. Instead, opt for clean,
muted scents that allow you to showcase your individual style and function as the pièce de résistance in your
grooming repertoire. [space]
Investing in Yourself: Personal Appearance
and Hygiene
If this article seems to be too much about “basic life skills” for your tastes, stop for a
moment and think about people you’ve met who put little or no effort into their personal appearance. Think
of people with bad breath or greasy hair and how your opinion of them subtly changed when you noticed
these things. This advice is primarily for those people, but also as a reminder to everyone that the small
efforts of personal appearance are tiny investments that do pay off.
Personal appearance is one of those subtle things that’s difficult to quantify. Mostly, it’s a collection
of a lot of small investments of time and effort that add up to a slight but noticeable tweak in how people
think of you. The difference is real, and over time these small differences in a lot of interactions and
events can really add up. Keeping clean and keeping up a good appearance are also great ways to simply
feel good – I know for me personally, few things make me feel better than a hot, soaking shower. Even
better, personal appearance is something that you can maximize – or at least significantly improve – with
just a bit of effort. Here are a bevy of little steps you should be taking to maximize the value of your
personal appearance, from the obvious to the subtle.
Maintain a daily hygiene schedule.
For some people, setting aside time each and every day for basic personal hygiene is a challenge.
They’re wrapped up in work, super-involved with their families, and have too many things going on, so
they’ll just skip an evening shower and make things look all right in the morning, or they’ll simply fall into
bed without thinking about it and then get up so late in the morning that they have to bolt out the door to
start taking charge of their responsibilities.
Hygiene is important. Schedule some time each day to take care of things. I usually do my
hygiene tasks the moment I wake up, and I have a litany of things that I go through as part of the routine.
If you don’t have an established routine that is simply a fundamental part of your day, start one.
Literally make a list of things to do and do them every day. That time you invest will pay off in the long run
because you’ll be constantly providing a subtle positive cue to others about yourself – and you’ll feel
better, too.
Take a bath or shower and clean thoroughly.
When I was in school, I bathed in a shared shower situation with a lot of other people and I witnessed
people standing under the shower for a few minutes, flopping a bit of soap lather on themselves, rinsing it
off, and getting out. If that sounds like your average shower, you need to start scrubbing a bit more.
Lather up a washcloth with a lot of soap and use it to scrub down all of your body. Rub vigorously
everywhere, then rinse. If the place produces significant odor, do it two or three times. Trust me – at the
end of the day, this will leave you feeling much fresher than if you just take an ultra-quickie shower.
Don’t use antibacterial soap.
Antibacterial soap might kill off some of the bacteria on your skin, but that’s bad for two reasons. First of
all, it lowers your own resistance to a variety of bacteria, making you more susceptible to bacteria-borne
illness. Second, if a soap kills off 99.9% of bacteria, the 0.1% that’s left is going to be resistant to that
soap and will thrive. In the words of Dr. Stuart Levy, a microbiologist at Tufts University: “Dousing
everything we touch with antibacterial soaps and taking antibiotic medications at the first sign of a cold
can upset the natural balance of microorganisms in and around us, leaving behind only the superbugs.”
Use some quality soap, but don’t use antibacterial soap – it has no real benefit and may in fact make you
sick over the long haul.
Brush your teeth, floss, and get dental checkups.
One of the first things I notice about a person is whether their breath smells badly. For some people, this
is a medical condition; for others, it’s a side effect of too much garlic. Either way, you can go a long way
towards preventing it by practicing good oral hygiene. Brush your teeth every day and floss them, too.
Also, visit the dentist sometimes to make sure your teeth are still in good shape.
A clean mouth and clean teeth give you a nice smile and fresh breath, both of which are major positives
for one’s personal appearance. It just takes a good scrubbing in the morning to cause it, so don’t skip over
brushing your teeth.
Get dental or orthodontic work, if necessary.
When my “adult” teeth first came in, several of the front ones came in highly crooked and it left me feeling
very self-conscious. I avoided smiling and looked rather surly much of the time, and when I would
occasionally flash my teeth, the inside of my mouth looked like a mangled train wreck. Not pretty, and not
good for my social interactions. Thankfully, my father’s health insurance was able to cover braces for
these and, after the correction, my teeth appear perfectly straight.
Having your teeth fixed is a wonderful investment. Many health care plans will cover dental
corrections, so if you have any issues with your teeth, mention them to your dentist or seek out an
orthodontist. Most dental corrections are simple and very cost effective investments for improving your
personal appearance, so seek them out.
 Use deodorant.
A scentless odor-blocking deodorant, preferably one that does an effective job of absorbing moisture, can
do wonders for both minimizing any potential body odor and for keeping any moisture from appearing on
your clothing. Most deodorants work pretty well for the average person – don’t overthink it, just apply it.
Keep your hair clean and trimmed evenly, at the very least.
Again, a fairly obvious tip: keep your hair clean, combed, and trimmed. I like to keep my hair very short –
it’s easy to make it look professional and very easy to keep clean. In fact, for quite a while, I kept it at
stubble length – it looked good and was almost no maintenance at all.
The important thing is to keep it clean. Clean hair, even if it’s a bit disheveled or not cut perfectly, does
wonders for a person’s appearance. When you take a shower or bath, give your hair a thorough
scrubbing.
Shave, or keep your beard trimmed.
Almost every guy in America goes through a beard phase – some for longer than others. I was no
exception. For a few years, I had a strong lumberjack look going. My beard grows in very thick, so it was
hard to even keep trimmed well and now I have to shave twice a day to keep a clean-shaven appearance.
Why bother? Again, it’s a subtle symbol of your attention to detail. An unshaven face on most males looks
pretty unkempt and unprofessional and gives off subtle signs of “I don’t care.”
Minimize body artwork unless it clearly doesn’t matter or is beneficial to your
career.
Personally, I’m all in favor of people expressing themselves through body art. While I’ve personally never
utilized any, both of my brothers have a wide assortment of body art and some of it is simply stunning.
However, I’ve personally witnessed this body art causing a social stigma for my middle brother, who has
several pieces visibly evident beyond his clothing. He’s been avoided on the street, passed over for work
promotions, and faced various subtle social stigmas because of the art.
If you choose to have body art, be aware that for many people, such art is in fact a social stigma and that
you will suffer for it in various ways, both subtle and non-subtle. In some careers and some social strata,
body art is inconsequential or even encouraged, but this is far from true for all careers and all social
strata. In a nutshell, be very careful of the long-term consequences if you are considering some form of
permanent body art.
Dress well, usually a touch above what is considered the norm.
Observe what the standard dress code is in your workplace, then strive to dress just a slight notch better
than that. Not enough so that you stick out, but enough so that you look very crisp and fresh compared to
the rest of the crowd. If everyone wears t-shirts and blue jeans in a work environment, wear ones that are
crisp and clean. If you’re in a highly casual office environment, stick to business casual. If everyone wears
dress shirts and Dockers, keep your clothes clean and pressed and bust out a tie on occasion.
Of course, this doesn’t work in all work cultures. At a minimum, make sure what you’re wearing is clean
and presentable, though, as people will visit and draw a number of conclusions based on your
appearance – a bunch of grungy guys in cubicle-land doesn’t instill heavy confidence in the higher-ups.
Greet everyone you meet, shake hands, smile, and willingly engage in conversation.
Once a day or so, I make the rounds to all of the offices and cubicles near where I work, greeting
everyone and saying hello. As a result, I have a fairly solid relationship with everyone nearby. Whenever
someone new comes into the office, I greet them and shake their hands firmly.
All of this only takes a few moments, but it creates a very positive impression of you in a social sense,
particularly when combined with good hygiene and good appearance. It only takes a few greetings from a
well-scrubbed person to develop some level of positive feelings towards that person, and that’s something
that’s always good to have in your corner.

Here’s the bottom line: keep yourself clean and presentable, dress well, and interact positively with
others.It takes time, effort, and a bit of money to pull that off, but if you do, you’ll create an overall positive
impression of yourself with everyone you interact with, and that positive impression is something very,
very valuable to have.

hand·shake
/ˈhan(d)ˌSHāk/

Learn to pronounce

noun
1. an act of shaking a person's hand with one's own, used as a greeting or to finalize an agreement.