Female leaders have little issue defining the rules that lead to success in their various industries. But ask them about the rules dictating how professional women should present themselves to optimize their career goals and there’s a good chance your question will be met with hesitation.
不同行業的女性領袖通常能毫不費力地給出通往成功的秘訣。不過如果你問她們，職場女性應當樹立怎樣的形象，才更利于實現職業目標，她們很可能就不知從何答起了。
Why? For women in the workplace, the whole appearance topic is nothing short of a contradiction-riddled minefield.
為什么呢?因為對于職場女性而言，所有關于外表的話題都是矛盾重重的雷區。
They’ve been told attractive people are better off. Thanks to an innate human bias that’s become known as the “what is beautiful is good” effect, beautiful employees are seen as more intelligent, more competent, more everything-that’s-good. Attractiveness has been found to lead to more job interviews, more job offers, higher income and greater overall success.
她們被告知，有魅力的人也會有更好的境遇。由于人類與生俱來的愛美之心，人們認為漂亮的員工更聰明，能力更強，有著更好的一切。更富魅力的人能得到更多面試機會，更容易找到工作，收入更高，就總體而言也更加成功。
But wait! That’s not the whole story.
且慢，情況并非都是這樣。
There’s also something known as the “beauty is beastly effect.” Beauty, apparently, can actually work against you. In fact, it can bring you increased discrimination in hiring and on the job, as well as less trust and loyalty when you’re a leader.“Women are in an impossible catch-22 when it comes to advice on appearance,” says Selena Rezvani, author of Pushback and a speaker and consultant on women and leadership. “Most modern advice on appearance suggests you find a perfect balance between acknowledging your femininity but not overemphasizing it. This increasingly thin line is hard to locate for the average woman, let alone translate and personalize. The short message to women is: your femininity is an asset and liability.”
還有一種說法叫“紅顏禍水”。顯然，美貌也可能對你不利。實際上，在應聘和工作中，美貌可能讓你遭受更多歧視，而在你擔任領導職位時，它還可能降低下屬對你的信賴感和忠誠度。《反推：聰明的女人如何要求并堅持她們想要的》(Pushback)一書的作者、演說家兼女性和領導力顧問賽琳娜•雷茲瓦尼表示：“有關外表的建議往往讓女性陷入一種悖論。當今的大多數建議都是女性要適當彰顯女人味兒，但不要過分強調它。但是對于大多數女人來說，這個分寸越來越難以把握，要活學活用到自己身上就更難了。簡而言之，女人味既是女性的資本，又是一種負擔。”
From makeup to hair color, metrics measuring attractiveness and success are all over the map. Studies in both the U.S. and the U.K. (both sponsored by cosmetics companies, it must be noted) have concluded that the stuff can help you appear more competent on the job. But again, watch out! Wear too much — or not in quite the right way — or just generally look like you’ve spent a lot of time on your grooming, and you might find that you earn less or appear less trustworthy. Going gray has long been considered more of a challenge for women than for men (does it signify experience and wisdom, or just old age?), but even other colors have unspoken connotations. During tough economic times, blonde women have been reported to dye their hair darker so as to be taken more seriously.
從妝容到頭發顏色，評判魅力和成功的標準各不相同。在英美兩國進行的調查得出了一個結論(必須說明，這些調查都是由化妝品公司贊助的)：多穿點可以讓你在工作中顯得更加能干。但是請注意!穿得太多——或者穿得不合適——或者你貌似花了很多時間來打扮自己，都可能使你的能力看上去大打折扣，或者顯得不那么值得信賴。長期以來，人們認為鬢角染霜對女性的挑戰大于男性(它意味著經驗豐富并且充滿智慧，還是僅代表著衰老?)，但人們對其它發色也有隱含的解讀。據說在經濟困難時期，為了獲得更多重視，金發女郎會把自己的頭發染成深色。
“Whether it’s about our appearance or whether or not to assert ourselves, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” says Bonnie Marcus, president and CEO of Women’s Success Coaching. “It’s a balancing act that ambitious women need to be aware of.”
女性職業咨詢網站Women’s Success Coaching的總裁兼首席執行官邦妮•馬庫斯表示：“無論我們的外表是否得體，無論我們是否堅持自我，我們怎么做都會遭到非難。有追求的女性需要了解這種平衡之道。”
There’s not an easy solution. “I believe the only general statement you can make about this is that women need to be savvy about the culture of their organization,” Marcus says. As the old saying goes, “dress for the job you want,” she adds.
沒有什么簡單的解決辦法。馬庫斯表示：“對此你唯一能說的就是：女性需要了解自己公司的文化。”就像一句老話說的那樣，“穿上與工作相配的衣服。”她補充道。
Rezvani draws two guiding principles from the most successful women executives she’s worked with. First, “they ‘fit in with flair,’ meaning they generally conform to the look of their work culture or industry and—to a lesser extent—demonstrate their own personal style,” she explains. Second, “they round up, not down, in terms of formality, even as the American workplace gets increasingly casual.”
雷茲瓦尼從曾經和她共事過的最成功的女性高管身上，總結出了兩條指導準則。首先，“她們‘能夠將時尚融入環境’，這意味著她們通常會讓自己的外表符合工作文化或行業形象——并稍微體現出自己的個性，”她解釋道。其次，“即便美國的職場著裝越來越隨意，她們也會在此基礎上選擇稍微更正式的裝扮，而不是更休閑。”
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is a good example, Rezvani says: “Mayer is known for her feminine, modern-chic suits and dresses, a look that telegraphs that she embraces her femininity and appreciates fashion. Yet her ‘flair’ is quiet enough that her clothes don’t detract from her verbal message. She also looks considerably more formal than most in the legendarily casual industry of IT.”
雅虎公司(Yahoo)首席執行官瑪麗莎•梅耶爾就是個很好的例子。雷茲瓦尼說：“梅耶爾以時髦別致的正裝和連衣裙著名，她的打扮彰顯出她的女性特質和時尚品味。這種時髦但又足夠低調的著裝風格，不會轉移人們對她言談的關注。事實上，在IT這個以著裝隨意著稱的行業中，她的打扮要比大部分人正式得多。”
Neena Newberry, president of Newberry Executive Solutions, says women should think about what they want to be known for. “If someone were to describe you, what are the top three things you’d want them to say?” she explains. “Regardless of the rules, figure out who you want to be and bring it to life in language and appearance.”
高管培訓機構Newberry Executive Solutions的總裁妮娜•紐貝里表示，女性需要想清楚，希望別人注意到自己的哪些方面。她解釋道：“如果有人要描述你，你最想要他們說出哪三個詞?拋開束縛，想清楚你要做什么樣的人，并在談吐和外表上實現它。”
But ultimately, the most successful women don’t get too caught up in all the attractiveness hullabaloo. It is your inner qualities that set you apart, says Erica Ariel Fox, president of Mobius Executive Leadership and author of Winning from Within.
不過最終，那些最成功的女性不會在魅力問題上太受困擾。高管培訓機構Mobius Executive Leadership的總裁、《贏在內心》(Winning from Within)的作者艾麗卡•阿里爾•福克斯表示，讓你與眾不同的是你的內在品質。
“We all know people who stand out because of a sparkle they bring into a room,” Fox says. “That’s what people remember—your spark.”
福克斯說：“我們都知道，人們之所以脫穎而出，是因為他們能在黑暗的房間中點亮火花。人們記住的，是你釋放的火花。”
