“Dress For Success” By Zig Ziglar

One of the major problems in our society today is the lack of pride many people have in their personal appearance.  Research clearly proves that a neat appearance and manner of dress has a direct bearing on conduct and performance.  It is also instrumental in gaining employment and has a bearing on your future with the company which employs you.  The person who hires you forms an opinion of you in roughly three seconds and that opinion is a factor in every decision made about you for several months. Unfortunately, a reasonably high percentage of our population appears to deliberately dress to make themselves look unattractive and, therefore, less desirable as employees, associates, friends or teammates. 

My friend and fellow training consultant, Nido Qubein, in his Executive Briefing newsletter, says that "pride is closely tied to self-esteem."  He quotes Robert W. Darvon, a founder of Scandinavian Design, Inc., who says, "There's only one thing that counts in a business - building the self-esteem of your employees.  Nothing else matters, because what they feel about themselves is what they give to your customers.  If an employee comes to work not liking his job, not feeling good about himself, you can be sure that your customers will go away not liking or feeling good about your company."

The way you feel about your employees has an influence on the way they feel about themselves, which, in turn, has a direct bearing on their performance.  You can make your people feel better about themselves by treating them with dignity and respect.  The reality is that the way you treat your "internal customers" (your employees) is the way they will treat your and their external customers when they encounter them.  Develop pride, improve the self-esteem of your people and I will SEE YOU AT THE TOP!  


Zig Ziglar is known as America’s Motivator.  He authored 32 books and produced numerous training programs.  He will be remembered as a man who lived out his faith daily.