Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 4/18/16

We arrived at Milan yesterday and the very nice immigration agents were dressed like rear admirals: epaulettes and chevrons, medals and gold braid. The conductor on the train to Venice was attired like a veteran airplane pilot.

I recalled my consulting work with the military over my career. From an officer’s uniform you could tell rank and status (you’re saluting the rank, not the person, I used to hear), the specialty, the combat history, years in service, honors, and so on. When I was a boy scout, the same held true: rank, years in the scouts, merit badges, home town, and so forth. At graduation ceremonies the professors de-mothball and air out the colorful robes and hats of scholars, indicating their schools, degrees, and other esoterica.

In many organizations today, the “unconventional” are actually quite conformist. No less than stodgy bankers, everyone at Apple or Cisco tends to dress alike. Teachers have decided to dress alike today, mostly clad in jeans and running shoes.

We all have our “uniforms.” We can’t let them determine who we are. That comes from the inside, from our character, manifest in our presence. Who are you, really?

I cannot say that I believe there is life out there. All I can say is that there are a number of reasons to think it is possible and that we have at our command the means of finding out. Those two things being the case, I would be very ashamed of my civilization if we did not try to find out.

— Carl Sagan

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