Learning the lessons from raymond

Wasn't the 'Grandad’s Back in Business' documentary on BBC2 on Monday night fascinating?

In case you missed it, the idea was that Raymond, a 60-year-old with 45 years' experience as a hairdresser (and 45 years' of bad habits), and, Becky a 17-year-old trainee with heaps of potential (and heaps of attitude), went head to head to land a job at Daniel Galvin in London. They each worked as a junior for a month, proving their worth by helping out in the salon, doing a cut, colour, updo, photo shoot and presenting on stage before one of them was offered the job.Raymond was a really nice guy and the concept that an older man could make it in a young man's world was a heart-warming idea, but Becky was quicker on the uptake throughout and was rewarded with the job.What made the show a bit of an eye-opener was quite how many bad habits Raymond and picked up in his time as a hairdresser. It just shows how important it is to carry on learning throughout your career (whatever your industry). Rest on your laurels and, like Raymond, you'll become stuck in your ways, your ideas will become out-dated and you'll end up on the scrap-heap.On the flipside, I'm not entirely convinced I'd have been falling over myself to offer Becky and her lack of enthusiasm a job either. When you're dealing with the public, attitude is everything. A perceived lack of passion and failing to smile nearly cost her her dream job - and that's another lesson we can all learn from. Picture courtesy of the BBC