People rejoice in their own image. I recall a cartoon years ago in which an obese, ugly man was lying on the beach. He turned his head and saw another man approaching who looked like his twin. On this second man's side was a beautiful blond wearing a skimpy bikini. The caption under the cartoon reflected the first man's thought: "Nice-looking couple."
If you're looking to improve yourself with your present company, take some time to analyze the style and behavior of the person who is in a position to do you the most good. If your boss is aloof and formal, inject a little that into your own personal style. It doesn't mean you live to change your overall personality and approach to people. It's just a matter of adapting a little to what your boss obviously will respond to positively.
Do it with clothes. Choose your wardrobe with an eye for matching up with your boss's preference in suits, dresses etc.
Become familiar with your boss's extracurricular interests and hobbies, and develop at least enough knowledge of them so that you can be conversant on the object. Take note of the way your boss deals with visitors and, when greeting your own visitors in the presence of your boss, adopt a few of his or her mannerisms, such as body language-never to the point of mimicking, of course, but just enough to indicate that you, too, include elements of that style in your greeting.
If your boss has an aversion to brown suits, and you're in a clothing store trying to decide between a brown and a blue suit, why not choose the blue one? If wearing brown suits is really important to you, buy both and save the brown one for weekend cocktail parties.
If you've decided to look for a better job outside your present employment, you can put the same philosophy into play. It's a little harder, of course, but it can be done. If you can find out about the style of the person who will be interviewing you, inject some of it into your presentation of yourself. Certainly, if you get through your initialinterview and are called back for a second one, you will have had the opportunity to observe this person and a make minor adjustments then.
Let's not have any misunderstandings, I am not advocating becoming a carbon copy of anyone else. People who try to do that always come off looking foolish, and are quickly recognized as shallow and transparent.
I'm not talking about changing your substance. But if you can establish a slight edge over other job candidates because there is certain aspects of you that naturally appeal to the person making the decision, this makes pragmatic sense to me.
