Why I Never Ask How

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In today’s breakfast club video I want to talk about why I never ask how.
The backstory for this video is my current streak with hairdressers that don’t cut me the way I like.
The thing is this:
Whenever I get my hair cut, I always asks the hairdresser for a classic hair cut that complements my facial features and head shape.
A professional hairdresser will present some options for me and let me choose the one I like the most.
An amateur hairdresser will ask me how I want my hair cut. They will ask for directions like, “do you want short on the side?” “Long on the top?” “Do you want fades?”
Micromanaging is easy, but by doing so, in effect, I never find a hairdresser with better solutions to my hair problems than I could come up with. Which defeats the purpose of hiring a professional.
Of course refusing to answer hairdressers “how” they should do their job, sometimes leads to less than satisfying outcomes.
Which brings me to my current hair cut.
I’m not happy with it, but that doesn’t mean my trip to the hair dresser was a failure.
You see, my strategy is to have the professional come up with a solution to my problem. This strategy will eventually help me find a hair dresser that comes up with a far superior solution to my hair hair cutting problems than I ever could.
And once I find that hairdresser, my hair cut will be better than anything I could have dreamt of.
So the takeaway here is that, when you’re hiring a professional consider it a red flag if they start asking for directions on how you want the problem solved. That’s their job to figure out.
Me for an example, whenever I’m coaching professional communicators, I never ask my clients how they want to dress. Instead, I ask what problems their outfits needs to solve.
Then I present them two or more solutions to their style problem. And let them choose one or walk away from the deal.
Now if you want to be the first to see solutions I’ve come up with to common style problems, I suggest you check out my Facebook group:
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I’m John Ballmore, a style coach for professional communicators. And I’ll see you in the next one.