The Hairdryer, the Hotel, and the Bad-Hair Day

An Excerpt from the New Book Manage to Engage. How Great Managers Create Remarkable Results. Published by Wiley March 2021

With the amount of travel I do (or did — pre COVID!), I’ve learned a lot about bad-hair days. And it’s the hairdryer and the decisions designers make (or don’t) that, from experience, has a lot in common with how we design work.

It is due to poor design choices involving a hairdryer, that I have found my head in hotel cupboards or leaning uncomfortably close to hotel toilet bowls. Beautiful hotels designed for appearance rather than functionality have inadvertently subjugated me to the nooks and crannies of a variety of plush hotel rooms in the pursuit of dry hair. It’s a mistake we often make at work, resulting in many a metaphorical bad-hair day.

One of my most memorable hairdryer encounters (for all the wrong reasons) took place at London’s Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5. If you experienced British Airways Terminal 5 when it was first opened, you will know it was really a remarkable airport experience. Of note were the BA lounges where you could wine and dine, do last-minute work, surf the internet, catch up on emails, or take a shower between flights. All of which was still quite special at the time. Though…