Role Models

Stylists are artists. Artists who create every day, six to eight times a day. Day in and day out in the public realm. How do you stay fresh? How do you keep going? How do you stay inspired?

Many hairdressers are looking for someone to inspire them, to reignite their passion. All this is good. We can look to exterior sources like mentors and role models, but ultimately, we need to source it ourselves. We are the inspiration for our guests. We are the inspiration for the industry. And we’re the ones that should be mentoring and role modeling.

If you want to grow your business, you have to grow yourself. In my own personal, leadership and business development, I’ve learned that failure and mistakes need to be celebrated, not criticized. I’ve learned that we need to create a culture of stylists willing to try new things and not get stuck by playing it safe and looking good.

And to do that, we need to role model it. We need to let go of looking good in front of our staff. We need to drop the leaders mask. We need to be willing to try new things, learn from our own mistakes, and share that learning with our team, so they feel comfortable to do the same.

Reflections from Beyond the Chair
by Andrew McAleese, Owner of La Luma Salon & Academy