Despite what Columbia Business School students are hearing, dressing down at work can be a boon to your career. In the words of Eric Schadt, former executive scientific director of research genetics for Rosetta Inpharmatics:
“What I have to do every day is push super hard on the thinking front and on the doing front,” he says. “It’s much easier to push and think hard if you don’t have to think about other things that don’t matter so much.”
It prompts us to evaluate how we spend our energy in preparation for our work day, and how comfort in the workplace relates to hard work, or in Schadt’s case, super hard work.
How comfortable is he on the job? According to The Scientist he owns about 30 identical white polo shirts and 10 pairs of identical khaki shorts, and wears this combination with white socks and Birkenstocks. Read the full story here.
Wearing shorts to work has indeed been lucrative for Schadt. The organization he helped build was sold to Merck for $620M in 2001.
Columbia students would be impressed.
Shout-out to our friend Piro who initially told us about his friend Eric.
How do you get in gear for your workday?