Taking Care of Your Signal Value

What kind of signals are you sending?

At the end of every year, I go through a rigorous analysis of the previous year and do some robust planning for the next year.

For me, that time falls during the time of year between the Christmas and New Year’s productivity cycle.

At a season and at a time that for most folks is assumed to be less productive, I have actually found that this time is my most productive in terms of planning, preparation, and review in order to improve one year on the next.

One of the items that has occurred during this year’s review for me is “signal value.” Or, rather than saying the value, (though it does have value) talking about the significance, or the impact, of signals.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

Everything you do, and say, and wear, and are, and every way you act, sends a signal.

Some people call these “first impressions” since they’re often the first signal you get from someone before they ever begin to speak. But these signals continue well beyond a first encounter.

I’m not going to comment on the nature of those signals, whether good or bad. And I’m not even suggesting that the signal sending, or even signal receiving, intended or unintended is a good thing.

It just “is.”

Your haircut, your personal hygiene, the clothes you wear — whether they’re matched, ironed, clean — your language, your comportment, your demeanor, your behavior… all of it sends a signal, intended or unintended, and people receive that signal.

How they receive the signal, however, is not up to you. They receive that signal through their own filters.

But if you take an extreme, someone that is, shall we say, someone unhygienic, slovenly dressed, who uses poor language, has poor posture and you compare them to someone who is appropriately dressed for the circumstance, uses good language, uses thoughtful prose, and understands what’s going on around them, which of those two candidates would you hire for a professional job?

Which of those two candidates would you feel more comfortable sitting next to at the ball game, which of those two candidates would you feel more comfortable having your daughter go on a date with, or any other social engagement?

What I’m saying here is that if you have goals, plans, and career aspirations you need to give careful thought to the signals you send, and more importantly, how those signals are probably going to be received.

Now, you can’t control how they’re received, but you can control the variables and how they’re sent, which increases the likelihood of them being received in the way that you intend.

Again, I am not suggesting that good dress or bad dress, tuxedos versus shorts and flip flops is good or bad. I’m not making that judgment. Obviously, different jobs, different events, and different circumstances require their own clothes, lifestyles, and other considerations. What I am suggesting is that it is a fact of life that whatever you are, whatever you do, however you speak, whatever you dress like, sends a signal.

You need to control that signal, or others will control it for you. (To retread an old joke: the difference between a bum and a hipster is that the hipster controls the signal he’s sending.)

Just make sure the signal that you are sending (purposely or accidentally) is the one that you intend to send.

What you want to be known for is a function of what you do. So, think very carefully through what you do, and how you do it so that as much as possible, the image you’re trying to create, the message you’re trying to send, the image you’re trying to live up to, is the one that is the one you want.

Be purposeful in that, understand how that phenomena occurs, and then go to work within that.

Now the flip side is: don’t be overly stressed about it. Don’t worry about trying to send signals that don’t match with who you want to be, or want to become. You will be comfortable when you hit the right ones. Some people are happy with signals that others find off-putting.

Be yourself, be comfortable. Do you want to be a rebel? Be a rebel. If you want to be comfortable, be comfortable. Understand that all of those decisions have consequences. All of those decisions send signals and all of those signals are heard and seen and filtered and impressions are made.

Again, I’m not suggesting shirts and ties or tuxedos or ball gowns for every event. What I am suggesting is that you think through the consequences of your language, your dress, your personal hygiene, the entire way you present yourselves around others, because all of it has signal value for good or for bad.

What are your signals?

Aaron Webber is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Webber Investments LLC, as well as a Managing Partner at Madison Wall Agencies.

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