Social responsibility: a hair raising - and harvesting - story.

• Author: Mestier, Louis

The following report was prepared by Louis Mestier of Guaranty Bank in Austin, who has served as president of the Austin Chapter, the chapter's representative on the Institute's Board of Directors, and a regional vice president. Congratulations and thank you to Louis for daring to make a difference and getting involved, both as a TEI member and member of his local community. For more information on Locks of Love, visit www.locksoflove.org.

I started out growing my hair out about four years ago when I was at my previous employer in the semiconductor industry. It was an accident really. I got extremely busy at work for three months or so and had to cancel my regularly scheduled haircut a number of times. By the time that I was able to make time to get a haircut, my hair had grown out past the point where it bothered me, so I decided to let it grow. After all, I worked in Austin at a semiconductor start-up company whose engineers subscribed to a less-than-traditional standard of corporate grooming and attire. I had always wanted to grow my hair long enough to put it in a ponytail, but never had the opportunity inasmuch as I was either in public accounting or corporate tax.

No one, including my boss at the time, said that I had to cut my hair so I kept growing it out. I eventually was able to achieve a "puny tail"--the point at which a ponytail band can barely hold your hair back out of your face. That got easier as time went on, at least until a fantastic job opportunity presented itself in Austin a little over a year ago. I really wanted the position--Director of Tax for a bank. Alas, I thought that there was no way I would be hired unless I addressed the hair in the interviews. I told my future boss in an early interview that if my hair was an issue, it...