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Friday, May 8, 2015
'Being kind to people really sets the stage'
TURN THE PAGE
Trout Air revisited New Running Aces restaurant honors former local attraction. P11
Lights, camera … Marine group funded for second documentary series. P6
LOCAL GREAT CLIPS CEO TO REVIEW SUCCESS STORY AT STILLWATER BIZ EVENT Submitted photos BY MICHELLE MIRON Editor
Ptooey Local pro pitcher was all about the spitball. P5
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HAM LAKE — Rhoda Olsen isn’t able to relax at her Ham Lake home as often as she’d like, but that’s only because there aren’t enough hours in a day. The 62-year-old CEO of lowcost haircut chain Great Clips Inc. said she still finds her job fun even when it’s grueling. She spends 100 nights a year at afterhours functions, traveling 200 days a year to brainstorm with executives and oversee the firm’s 3,800 branches. One of her pri-
orities: personally meeting with franchisees to reinforce the company’s official value statement “We are kind.” Clearly that company culture is paying off. Now the largest hair salon brand in the world, the privately held Great Clips just completed 10.5 consecutive years of same-salon sales growth, with 2014 revenues of $1.03 billion. It’s already 86th largest among franchises worldwide, and it plans to add an average of 200 new salons nationwide in each of the next
five years. It employs 200 in its corporate office while its 1,000some franchisees employ about 35,000 stylists. The Type A Olsen, 62, will touch on that company philosophy and success story as one of three speakers at the first business conference sponsored by the Stillwater Women’s Bridge networking group May 20. Amazingly, Olsen estimated she knows the names of some 600 franchisees and the names and ages of many of their children, though she’s not as current
on newer additions. “I have not seen any other company that has ‘kind’ in their value statement … but I think that might become more common,” she noted in an interview last month. “With all the technology and disconnection, people value that kindness and caring more then ever. And if I don’t know the franchisees and the issues they have, it’s really hard to determine direction and how to communicate.”
SEE OLSEN | 12