Leaders Can Use Clothing to Shape Perceptions

In findings published in the Journal of Business Research, Thomas Maran, Simon Liegl, Sebastian Moder, Sascha Kraus, and Marco Furtner conducted four studies to examine how leaders’ clothing influenced perceptions of charisma, competence, leadership, and approval. While the findings varied across the studies, they did find that formal attire was associated with conventional notions of leadership and sometimes had a positive impact on approval, while informal or unconventional clothing choices were often associated with charisma to the extent that it distinguished a leader from the surrounding organizational culture.

In other words: Leaders can be intentional in how they come across to their teams, and the strongest leadership signal may not be formality at all; dressing appropriately for context and expressing one’s individuality might send stronger signals.