STEP 2
Improve your leadership
and organizational skills
Mentor: Baron Baptiste, owner of the Baptiste Institute
Baron Baptiste has been in the yoga business since the
day he was born. “My parents opened their fi rst yoga school
prior to my birth, in San Francisco, in 1952. I was lucky
to have grown up in a yoga-school environment and had
behind-the-scenes access to what it takes to operate a busi-
ness based in yoga.”
In the mid-1990s, Baptiste opened his fi rst studios—
with the goal of carrying on his parents’ legacy, while
also striving to make the practice more accessible to the
masses—fi rst outside Philadelphia and then several years
later in Boston. Today there are more than 100 Baptiste
Affi liate Studios and two Baptiste Yoga
Schools—one in San Francisco and one
in Boston—plus more than 600 Certi-
fi ed Baptiste Teachers.
And through it all, Baptiste has
learned several key things about running
a business—things that don’t just involve
dollars, but defi nitely involve heart
sense. “I am only as good as the people
surrounding me. In the early days,
I needed to learn to let go of handling
every single thing,” says Baptiste. “You need to put people
in leadership roles who embody the practice and are aligned
with the larger vision. Doing so let me keep my attention on
what I love most: teaching.”
When it comes to motivating a studio team, Baptiste
has always believed in “attraction over promotion.” He says
Galicinao and Hendricks should think about what brought
them to the practice in the very beginning and what keeps
them coming back—then share these stories with their staff.
“People can sense authenticity. Have a clearly articulated
vision and communicate it to internal and external teams
often,” he says. “As you become skilled at sharing it, you’ll
become an extraordinary expression of your business.”
Galicinao and Hendricks both say that they started practic-
ing yoga in their college years as a way to complement and
balance out the rigors of their intense athletic endeavors.
“I was a stressed, young professional and needed the sanc-
tuary of a yoga practice,” says Galicinao. Later, as she and
Hendricks turned to yoga for cognitive improvements after
concussions, the practice became an essential tool for
recovery. “We want to help bring that healing journey to
others,” Galicinao says.
When things get diffi cult in the business and success is
on the line, it’s best to apply yoga practices and principles:
“Stay, breathe, adapt, and adjust as you go,” says Baptiste.
“Every three months or so, get together with your team and
review everything,” he says. “You will see pretty quickly
what’s working and what’s not.” These regular check-ins
helped smooth out communication problems within his
team, he adds. “There are times that I dealt with teachers
not showing up for their classes on time,
or a studio manager not getting along
with the teachers. I realized that
I had to do a better job of getting every-
one connected to the same vision. I had
to come out of the pose, so to speak, and
rebuild it.”
Finally, consider your seva compo-
nent—how your studio will give back
and be a community leader—which
Baptiste considers a key pillar for any
business. “Seva practices, whether on or off the mat, leave
everyone feeling elevated and deeply enriched,” he says.
“It helps everyone be a part of something higher, and bigger,
than themselves.” Baptiste has found particular inspiration
in making the practice available at minimal or no charge
to at-risk youth, veterans, and communities in Kenya and
other countries abroad as cofounder of Africa Yoga Project,
but he has never limited it to only these groups. In line with
brain health, Galicinao and Hendricks hope to raise money
for dementia and
Alzheimer’s
causes, as well as
fi nd ways to off er
low-cost yoga or
meditation to
patients.YOGAJOURNAL.COM / 4 / FEBRUARY 2018
Baron BaptisteDINARUDICKLEARN MORE
Join Baron Baptiste for
a four-week bootcamp
designed to help you
fi nd your authentic
voice: yogajournal.com/
baptistebootcamp