I know what you’re thinking ... oh come on.I throw these away, quickly followed up by... for $285 bucks I’ll give them every old pair of jeans I have.

But this whole thing raises some issues—the difference between style and substance.

J Crew makes a bazillion dollars selling stuff people like. There’s nothing wrong with it and there’s a lesson there for us: design matters.

But if all you’ve got are cool looks and no substance, you won’t last long in our business. Indeed, I’ve hired subs and laborers based on their sales pitch, which I quickly learned had no substance backing it up. And when we build, mangled 2x4 studs or caddy-wompuss 5/4 deck boards don’t care if we have panache or if people like us. They must go in straight—and it’s our job to get them there: that’s our substance.

J Crew also raises another issue for me: style and gentility.

No matter how dirty we get at work, we are business owners. Professionals. Period.

Looking good is one thing and when you look like you got yanked through a keyhole it’s easy to act that way. Acting appropriately in someone’s home is a skill I see fewer people exhibiting, to wit perhaps some substance that’ll require turning off Grand Theft Auto for a while would help. [By the way, in that game you’re not stealing pretend cars; playing that game, or any game, too much is stealing your brain... joke’s on you.]

Ben Franklin’sPoor Richard’s Almanack has been around for 240-ish years because it’s got something that connects with people—substance. And George Washington could lead men—George Washington On Leadership—
because he had substance too.

There’s even a line in No Country for Old Men that struck me... It’s one of the best windows into the world I’ve seen in a long time. Tommy Lee Jones says that society goes to hell in a handbasket when kids stop saying sir and ma'am. There’s something to that... it’s not in there by accident.

Sir, ma'am, please, thank you, holding the door for someone... it all matters. Substance.

Is it important to you? Do you counsel your crews about courtesy? Is smoking or chew allowed on your sites? How do you use courtesy to best serve your customers?

And, did you buy the jeans?