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Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about leadership, culture, and what really holds a salon together when things get difficult. But in this episode, we want to step back and explain something we realized while rebuilding our salon.

Culture is not your branding.
It’s not your vibe.
And it’s not what you write on the wall.

Culture is how your business behaves.

In this episode, we introduce a simple five-mode leadership framework that explains how culture is created in real life, through operations, systems, leadership, strategy, and crisis. We walk through what each mode actually looks like inside a salon, how your team experiences your culture in each one, and why most salon owners only recognize two modes: daily operations and emergencies.

We also share what it looked like to relocate our entire team from our building to another salon, and why that experience revealed more about our culture than any mission statement ever could.

If you’ve ever struggled to clearly define your salon’s culture, this framework will help you understand what’s really shaping it and how to lead it intentionally.

Your business should serve you, so that you can serve others.

KEY TAKEAWAY

• Culture is how your business behaves, not how you describe it.
• Clients experience culture primarily through daily operations.
• Strong systems reduce guessing and build confidence for your team.
• Leadership creates psychological safety and accountability.
• Strategy creates stability, credibility, and alignment.
• Crisis reveals culture faster than any other situation.
• Most owners only operate in operations and crisis mode.
• Leaders must learn to shift between different modes intentionally.
• Written systems prevent frustration and miscommunication.
• Knowing what “mode” you are in changes how you lead.

TIME STAMPS

00:00 – Quick rebuild update + why this episode exists
01:30 – Jen’s opening take: reacting with clients and protecting experience
04:00 – Todd’s opening take: perspective and responsibility
06:30 – Culture is not branding or “vibe”
08:30 – Removing your team from your space reveals real culture
10:30 – What other salons and clients noticed about your team
12:30 – What clients actually say defines your culture
15:00 – Why culture shows most clearly when things go wrong
17:30 – Introducing the Five-Mode framework
18:30 – Mode 1: Operations
21:30 – Mode 2: Systems
24:45 – Mode 3: Leadership
27:45 – Mode 4: Strategy
31:30 – Mode 5: Crisis
35:00 – How the flood activated every mode
38:00 – Identifying what mode you’re actually in
41:00 – Using the framework to stop reacting and start leading
43:30 – Closing thoughts + next steps

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