The company I work for is merging with another company. We are very relaxed. Jeans, sneakers, and polo are typical office wear. The new company is more formal. From my understanding slacks, button ups and jackets are typical for management. With no jackets for front line. I'm a non-management salary employee. I am meeting with the a couple of senior leaders of the other company that I will be reporting to next week to discuss the software tools we use. We are also going to dinner the night before. I could use some advice on what to wear. I plan on wearing a gray jacket and shoes, with navy slacks and light blue shirt for the meeting. I was originally thinking more color but I may play it safe here. Im struggling on what to wear for dinner. My current director said slacks and a polo is fine. Inhave a feelinghe will be a step above that. I'd like to dress up the polo a little bit. Maybe a quarter zip? Im lost on what to do for colors. I'd like to do a splash of color. Something that says I'm an expert in what I do. I attached a picture of part of the jacket I currently own.

Do to some unseen force, you are forced to select only 2 Jackets, 2 shirts, 2 trousers, and 2 pair of shoes, which would you select and why? This could be from your current wardrobe or pieces you are looking to add. You could sub out pairs of trousers and jackets for a suit(s) but at the end, no more than the 8 pieces named above. edit: Ok, you can pick two ties or pocket squares to total 10 pieces in all

Good morning gentlemen, Have you ever been in a situation where you reacted instead of responding? When someone does or says something and you immediately come back at them, that is reacting not responding. But if you take a moment, pause think then you are responding and not reacting. But there is another side of this, not every situation requires you to react or respond. Because when you realize that that person’s actions are merely to get you out of character, or to get a reaction from you, your response or reaction is exactly what they want. When you come back at them, you are allowing them to control you. Sometimes you have to let a fool think they won. When you do not respond to their actions, they think you forgot. But they just don’t know; like a real gentleman, just took it to the chin and not the heart . You chose to let it go, because sometimes you gotta let it go just so you could grow. But they will know not to try that again. One of my favorite songs by Kenny Rogers “The Gambler”, in the song he says, “ You have to know when to hold them”, “know when to fold them,” “know when to walk away,” know when to run”. You have to know when to hold them accountable. You have to know when to fold their lies, their accusations, and their actions into revealing the truth. Know when to walk away because it’s just not worth it. And know when to run from a potential situations that will cost you more in the end. ( like arranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic.). You are better than that, do not buy into someone’s foolishness.

There are so many gentlemen in this group (> 13,000) but only a handful are active contributors to the discussions. It would be interesting to know the geographical distribution of these contributors. Here is the poll. Where do you live? This is part 1, there's more to come.