Being a Man is Back in Style

"The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted."

— D.H. Lawrence

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

- Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club

The current economic environment has a lot of people talking about the Great Depression. All this talk about the Great Depression has me thinking about then men that were part of the "Greatest Generation." In my estimation, this was when men were truly men. Most of them had served in the Armed Forces in either World War I or World War II--some served in both, they could throw a punch, take a punch, fix a car, make an Old Fashioned, they helped little old ladies cross the street, opened doors for their girlfriend or wife, went to church on Sunday, and for the most part, had a great work ethic. And these men all wore suits.

At the same time the overwhelming masculinity came at a cost. Many of these men were racist, anti semetic, misogynistic, prone to heavy drinking, and were not the most self aware individuals to have walked this earth. The generation that followed them could be seen as a reaction against these people's most prized qualities. They got rid of the preassigned gender roles, spoke out against racism and injustice, and reimagined what American life could be. One of the casualties of this war was the suit and tie as the prescribed office attire.

As the son of a Baby Boomer, I have two generations of male archetypes to look to observe. I would say that each generation had it's strengths and I have the benefit of picking and choosing the best from each generation. I'll pass on the racism and heavy drinking, but take the good manners and strong moral code. Once my freestyle is mended, I'd like to learn to box or study aikido. But first and foremost, I'm going to work on reclaiming the masculinity of the 1950s by doing my part to bring back the suit to the workplace.

Over the past few weeks I have worn a suit to work at least twice a week. Part of the appeal of wearing a suit is directly related to the fact that I don't have to wear a suit to work. If I had to wear a suit to work it would probably be a drag; instead, I choose to wear a suit to work, and I would say that I feel a noticeable difference. It could be just my imagination here, but I do think that the act of wearing a suit does make a difference in my performance in the workplace.

Being a good accountant is all about getting the details right--one of my mentors would say that your work is "crisp." The same is true of wearing a suit the right way--as opposed to the suit wearing you. The pants should be hemmed to allow for an inch of break, the jacket should allow for a quarter inch of cuff to show, the shirt pressed with collar stays in place, all topped off with a pocket square neatly in place. Getting all those details right before you are even at the office has a way of getting in the subconsious mind and rubbing off on the work--at least that is my theory at this moment.

As I have begun to bring back masculinity, I have started to ask myself this question: "What would Don Draper do?" I understand that this is a fictional character, but this is my benchmark question to determine if I am acting appropriately. Would Don Draper have a messy desk? No. Would Don Draper go to the meeting without appropriately preparing himself? No. Would Don Draper go to work without shaving? No. Would Don Draper knock off early and go get drunk at a local watering hole? Yes, but that goes back to my earlier point that there are some things that should remain in the not so distant past.

Namaste