The Worst Haircut of My Life
I bet you cut your own hair when you were a kid. Many of us did. Maybe your mom fixed it by setting the clippers on #1 and giving you a buzz cut.
I don’t remember the specifics but I remember giving myself a haircut. I have a vague feeling that my brothers did too.
You learn that a buzz cut is better than a big white space where you should have hair.
Worst haircut:
Last Wednesday I received the worst haircut of my life.
I didn’t see it coming because I take my glasses off for the procedure. When I put my glasses on, I thought, “Maybe I just need to go home and wet my hair and comb it the right way.”
I kept looking at myself in the rear view mirror while I drove home.
It was so bad that it took a while for the ugly truth to sink in. I might need a crew cut to fix this.
7 lessons from a bad haircut:
#1. Things don’t magically improve. If it looks bad now, it won’t look better when you get home.
#2. Face the brutal truth and actively intervene. I called the salon, “I just got the worst haircut of my life.”
#3. Go with the people who have delivered the goods in the past. My regular person has been sick. I was desperate.
#4. Desperation usually isn’t a good reason to have an ‘unknown’ do something IMPORTANT!
#5. Past performance is a predictor of future performance.
#6. It’s always good to monitor progress. Keep your glasses on.
#7. The remedy is a person. Thankfully, someone I know was available. She fixed my hair without giving me a buzz cut.
What do ‘bad haircuts’ teach you about leading?
And understand the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is about seven days. With time conditions improve.
Thankfully! Patience is a virtue!
Can you post a picture of that bad haircut?
It’s been fixed
Great ten, I like #4… I have found myself in ‘just get it done’ mode and not taken enough time to consider the decision in greater depth. Haste and quick solutions can create larger problems and unexpected consequences..
Thanks Ken. I’m a fan of just do something. When your desperate, maybe we should just NOT do something.
I agree. Sometimes I think that is fates way of intervening in your decision to slow you down!
…or always add some sound judgment!
Loved this post, Dan! You have a gift for drawing out meaningful insights from ordinary, real-life experiences like this. Cheers!
Thanks Michael!
Sometimes you need a bad haircut to realize how good you have it.
When a bad haircut is a problem, maybe you need bigger problems!
#8 A haircut is temporary. If all else fails, you can grow it out. Sadly, not every problem is as ephemeral as a bad haircut!
Brilliant, Mitch. Thanks.
I also learned you never want to get a haircut at a beach resort, from the barber whose chair is by the window where all the pretty girls are walking by. My barber spent more time looking out the window than looking at me hair.
HaHa… I did that once, Paul. Not the best haircut, but I had a week to let it grow. 🙂
it took a week for the cuts on my ears to heal!!
Ouch!!!
In 2003 I solved all future bad haircuts by shaving my head…with my glasses on! Excellent performance has been achieved since!
Simplicity is a source of excellent performance! You must have one of those perfect heads, Sam. I have an ugly head so I need to cover it up/
Give clear expectations and instructions. Give immediate feedback. KISS. ”A scissor cut on top and a number 2 in the beard.” Change styles only with someone you have a relationship with. It will grow back.
Thanks Joe. Also, change styles when you don’t have an engagement to go to. 🙂
Besides the always insightful Leadership tips — thanks for making me smile on a slightly snowy morning in Brooklyn, NY. P.S. One of my resolutions for 2019 is to get a very different hairstyle.
Hmmmmm. 😉
Thanks Mary Ellen. I’m glad you appreciate the tongue-in-cheek approach of this post. Good luck with your new hair style!
Everyone version of an inch is different. Make sure expectations are very clear and specific!
Agree on the expectations. Although I think the issue was skill. No amount of explanation would have prevented this fiasco.
Lesson # 8 – The difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is two weeks
Bingo! 🙂
Applying the virtue of Gratefulness, it wasn’t a tatoo.
hahahahaha.. hilarious. Thanks Scoot!
And always remember, setbacks are temporary. It will grow back and you can prevent a similar outcome as long as you don’t go back to the same person with an expectation of a better result. 🙂
Thanks Janet. Great lesson. Setbacks are temporary.
I do believe if you manage this one; #4. Desperation usually isn’t a good reason to have an ‘unknown’ do something IMPORTANT! and step back from acting on desperation the others fall into place. Too often we act TOO FAST thinking in desperation we need to react quickly when as you have implied we just need to step back, take a breath and think about the possible solutions. Now my question how come I could not have known this at 25 instead of 62 or in reality I had to live it many times to really know it?
Thanks Roger. It looks like you’ve learned that the wrong solution to a problem turns one problem into TWO problems.
Maybe you’re more patient and less likely to panic. I think you call that experience.
Interesting leadership analogy. Risk versus reward. You were desperate so you took a chance with someone new. How often do we do that in our leadership roles? Are we prepared for failure (a bad haircut) and the lessons learned? What are the alternatives? I like it. Thanks, Dan.
Thanks SGT. By the way, I used your abracadabra story today with a team that I’m working with. :-0
NO 7: The remedy is person. I think it falls into the phrase ‘we rise by lifting others’, which is one key quality of a great leader. The question is, how engaged are you? How do you respond to negative haircuts?
SECONDLY: Bad haircuts teaches about TIMING and PATIENCE with a relative and due Process while the storm and aligning the cuts.
Thanks Goodwin. How we respond to failure establishes the near future. You might be tempted to let it slide. But that means continued mediocrity.
It’s just hair and it will grow back!