Did you see the news item that Stephen Colbert got his head shaved by General Odierno during his visit to Iraq this weekend?
What started off as a military basic training right of passage has now developed into a show of solaradarity, a sort of “I am one of you,” visual commitment. Who isn’t moved when the entire family of a cancer/chemo victim shaves their heads so the patient is not quite so self conscious. At once, it is a bold but easy, brainless commitment to the cause. It never fails to achieve the desired result: we are in this together.
Even though it almost always works that way, one never-ever sees head shaving in companies. I have never attended a team building exercise where everyone’s head was shaved, “to send a message.” I wonder why.
From personal experience, here is how it works. Forty-three years ago this month(OMG, cough, WTF), I was a small town guy, 17 years old, full of myself, invincible and all knowing. I went off to the Air Force Academy, mostly because it was free and the pictures of the place were awesome.
I can still remember the attitude of my 1,000 new classmates had that first half-day, getting our uniforms, finding our roommates, our gear and standing in line, measuring ourselves against the others, knowing that half of us wouldn’t make it through the four years. Each of us were high school studs, of course, capable of mastering anything that was thrown at us. We were smart, athletic and because it was 1967, all of us had long hair. The Beatles and all that. We were all so rebellious back then.
And then we went to the barbershop and in three minutes, we were transformed. Not only did we look alike, we were just a bit less sure of 
ourselves. The process of ‘breaking us down’ so we could be molded into something new and better had begun.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon for young adult men to self-select the bald haircut look. There is something more dramatic when someone else makes you do it.
I do wonder why…in this age of team building and HR exercises…why you never see or hear about some company doing the same thing. Anyone? Anyone?
2 users commented in " Head Shaving Builds Units, Solaradarity "
You want the Human Rights gang to start chasing you?
Many companies do have the culture of wearing uniforms, but stop with that. Going beyond for initiating into a brotherhood, will, I think in civil life, lead to riots!
Yes, you are right, of course Rummy. I was just thinking that it has never been tried…you would have to make a contest out of it somehow…maybe to get the peer pressure started. Bad idea, I grant you.
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