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It Pays To Be Nice WRITTEN BY Darci Hansen
“I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.” – William P enn What comes to mind when someone is described as having “a sweet personality” is about as cliché as, “He’s such a nice guy.” Then there’s Winn Claybaugh, who walks into a room and shatters the relatively trite description simply with his presence. Don’t think for one minute that “nice guys finish last” because Claybaugh’s charismatic smile and authentic ability to be, well, nice, is paying off.
Requests for Winn to do motivational speaking at other salons and schools began to come in. He would write down his take on the various elements that were lacking in the industry. Winn quickly concluded that existing beauty schools should be doing a better job at training their students. Putting his money where his mouth was, Winn opened his own cosmetology school, the Von Curtis Academy in Provo. While overseeing the growth of the Von Curtis franchise, he also focused on funneling his ideas and professional practices into a business model that would benefit other companies through education, motivation, and organization. Not only did the demand for Winn’s business program increase, but so did the requests to have Winn himself implement his model for outside companies. In 1989, Winn committed to comprehensive travel, working across the country with businesses in building their brands and creating productive working cultures. Impressive? It is when you consider his client list includes Vidal Sassoon, Southwest Airlines, Fuddruckers, Entertainment Tonight, and Mattel, to name only a few. His success was recognized by a man named John Paul DeJoria, who contracted Winn’s team to provide training for his company, John Paul Mitchell Systems, a.k.a. Paul Mitchell. In 2000, DeJoria and Winn joined forces and Paul Mitchell the School (division) was created. The Von Curtis academies moved under the new brand and today Paul Mitchell the School is the largest cosmetology school franchise in the United States.
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o who is this Mr. Nice Guy? Winn Claybaugh is the powerhouse of motivation behind the Paul Mitchell brand whose background initially had nothing to do with hair. He doesn’t hide the fact that he barely made it through high school, never went to college, or even attained a cosmetology license. “My parents instilled in me work ethics. I knew that I could be successful at anything as long as I was willing to work hard.” Winn says. Whether that was an easily acquired concept or genetic gift doesn’t matter. What did matter was that he was consciously aware of its power and it would serve him well.
It wasn’t always a Cinderella story. Winn has dealt with his own personal trials and challenges. But through it all he has learned that the most important person to take care of was himself. “You have to eliminate the things in your life that block or blur your perception of what being nice is all about. Divorce yourself from the people, beliefs, and experiences that cause you to be mean and insensitive. Once you’ve ditched the drama, you will need to replace the negative garbage with positive programming.” Which is exactly what Winn does best – he emulates kindness naturally to his 16,000 students.
Relocating from southern California to Utah in 1982 wasn’t the culture shock one might expect, says Winn. “I had family in Utah and saw opportunity.” He purchased a three-chair salon in the Provo area. “I didn’t know the hair industry – but I had a thousand ideas running through my mind of how to run a business.” He hired stylists whom he embraced as family. “Success really lies within the culture you create. My staff became my family. I made sure they knew I respected and believed in them. I was there for them when they needed support. I was genuinely kind to them. It made sense. Isn’t that how we all should be?” Believing early in the theory of “what goes around comes around” served Winn well. He simply treated others the way he wanted to be treated.
Winn says he relates to his students, many of which have experienced abuse, neglect, eating disorders, addictions, and bullying. “Our open culture encourages every single one of them to acknowledge their value and treat others with respect. We can change the world, one kind gesture at a time,” he says. This is the same culture he is creating for his latest endeavor, Lunatic Fringe, a franchise chain of styling salons.
It wasn’t until the day that one of his stylists arrived at work and confessed she had been living in an abusive relationship that he realized how valuable building others self-esteem was. “She told me that she finally had the courage to walk away from years of abuse because she had gained enough self-respect to do so. She said it was because I had built up her confidence by being genuinely kind to her.” Winn takes little credit for this woman’s courageous decision. Rather, he insists he was only a messenger. “She always possessed the courage to do what she needed to do, she just didn’t know it,” he said.
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Winn also decided to put his knowledge into print after years of knowing the humanity behind the word nice. In his book, appropriately titled “Be Nice (Or Else),” Winn implores the philosophy he has become famous for. “It’s easy to be nice when someone is nice to you. When someone isn’t nice, you want to put them in their place,” he says. What’s his most effective way to do that? “Let it go - ignore it. You just don’t allow another’s offensive comment or action to get to you. The thing to realize is that you choose your attitude in every situation.” Winn’s luminous conviction to authentic niceties has landed him a number of prestigious accolades along the way. He is the youngest person ever named by the North American Hairdressing Awards (NAHA) to their Hall of Leaders. Most recently, behindthechair.com honored him with the Hairdressers Unlocking Hope award for his exemplary model of philanthropy, generosity, and spirit. The list of honors goes on and on. But Winn says although the recognition from peers is important, it’s his commitment to sincere kindness that he wants people to remember. That won’t be hard to do.
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Over the past seven years Winn and the Paul Mitchell Schools have raised more than $6 million for charitable organizations, including the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, Fran Drescher’s Cancer Schmancer Movement, Morris Animal Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Food 4 Africa, hurricane relief, and AIDS causes – again, to only name a few. But it is here, entrenched in humanitarian efforts, that Winn feels alive. With 12- to 15-hour days scheduled out for months on end, how does he do it all? Winn says he is constantly rearranging his schedule to make sure he has the opportunity to do the things that matter. “Ideally I want to spend 98 percent of my time doing philanthropy and 2 percent at work,” he says. And he will. Remember, this is the man emphatically aware of how to be successful. Being socially responsible is a character trait for Winn. With Winn’s list of accomplishments longer than day, what remains as “unfinished business” for the guy who wrote the book on being nice? “I want to do more advocating for anti-bullying programs. It’s an unnecessary violence destroying the lives of young people - it has to stop.” Bullies beware. Nice guys do finish first. And you can bet he won’t lose. After all, his name is Winn. woman
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