That seems to be a bit of a theme today.

First up, on Slashdot, we have "Gaffes that keep geeks from the boardroom," a discussion of the various clothing, attitude, and personal hygiene choices that IT folks often make which preclude their being taken seriously in CxO circles.

Then we have the more serious John Halamka giving us his "Top Ten Ways to be a Bad CIO."

I tend to believe, probably incorrectly, that John's list is more important than Slashdot's; if you are genuinely good at what you do and not outright offensive (and sometimes, if you're good enough, then even if you are that offensive) then you won't hurt for work in this industry, at whatever level you specialize. If you dress nicely and say all the right things, you may advance faster, but if you can't get the job done, eventually you'll be shown the door when someone figures it out. You will probably get a nice golden parachute, though, and maybe that's what's really important, I don't know.