Athens' Etiquette & Leadership Institute carries on on a famous legacy

If you’ve seen Dorothea Johnson on The Ellen DeGeneres Show or read any of her five books on etiquette, you might know that she founded the Protocol School of Washington in D.C. You might have read that she is the spokesperson for Emergen-C and that she, her daughter Bebe Buell and granddaughter Liv Tyler launched Emergen-C Pink, which donates money to breast cancer research. Perhaps you’ve read that Johnson co-wrote a book with Tyler, “Modern Manners,” which will be published May 2012 by Rodale.

But did you know Johnson has strong ties to Athens?

Her connection to Athens’s etiquette school, Perfectly Polished, started in 1998—but Johnson’s career path began long before that. She was interested in etiquette from a young age; while her girlfriends read “True Romance” magazines, Johnson was happily engrossed in etiquette books. In the 1950s, she owned an etiquette school in Houston, Texas, and later taught etiquette at military bases where her husband was stationed.

In 1973, Johnson worked as an interior designer at Lord & Taylor in Washington. She taught an entertaining and etiquette program in the store’s tearoom on her day off. In 1974, she created the etiquette program at the The Joint Military Attaché School, training diplomatic attaches, and continued as their protocol advisor that job until 2001, when she moved to Maine. In 1988, she founded Protocol School of Washington.

Meanwhile, in 1985, Debra Lassiter and Cindy Haygood founded Perfectly Polished in Athens, an etiquette school that started with just 20 students. By 1998, business had grown to include hundreds of students in both Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties, and Lassiter went to Washington, D.C., to become certified with the Protocol School of Washington.

In 1999—with Perfectly Polished classes now in six counties—Haygood became Protocol School of Washington-certified, and April McLean joined the teaching staff and became Protocol School of Washington-certified, too. Lassiter, Haygood and McLean (who now teach around 4,000 students each year in 12 counties) became close friends with Johnson.

When Johnson contemplated selling the different training branches of the Protocol School of Washington, interest was great because “so many people wanted that company,” she said. “I had built that brand and it was known all around the world.”

But when it came to the children’s etiquette training division, she hesitated at prospective buyers, not feeling the right match, until Lassiter, Haygood and McLean approached her. In 2005, they bought the youth division branch and formed The Etiquette & Leadership Institute to train and certify children’s etiquette consultants. (Full disclosure: this writer has often produced written materials for The Etiquette & Leadership Institute.)

“I knew what they had accomplished with Perfectly Polished, and that pleased and impressed me,” Johnson said. “When they contacted me, I knew I was able to sell it to them…They are wonderful, dedicated teachers.”

Since forming The Etiquette & Leadership Institute, the three have trained and certified 350 children’s etiquette consultants from all over the U.S. and 17 other countries, all while continuing to teach classes at Perfectly Polished. During training, their consultants learn all of the details of etiquette and social dance, but also that good manners means something broader: treating others with respect.

It’s easy to learn technical skills for work, but “Concern for others, knowing how to treat others, enjoying another’s company, knowing how to handle yourself in social and business settings—that has to be cultivated by and modeled by those who are good at treating others respectfully handling themselves with ease,” said Haygood. “Some people believe (those skills) do not matter, or have forgotten that it matters. I believe the larger work we have is to teach and model respect and civility for each other.”

“This is the absolute best and most fun career path that anyone can have,” said Lassiter.  “You get to work with people of all ages and backgrounds, and you get to watch them learn, grow and make choices about what they will do in the life—how they will treat people, how they will make and keep friends, how they will grow in their professional life…Manners, respect and civility are the base ingredients for everything that we do.”

Teaching etiquette still matters, said Johnson, because good manners are still relevant, even today.

“Etiquette isn’t dead; it has simply undergone some changes, and the work of teaching etiquette is ongoing, because it keeps changing with the times,” she said. “Good manners contribute to the pleasure and dignity of every day life. They’re crucial to our personal and professional growth.”

She added that Lassiter, Haygood and McLean are the perfect people to teach those skills.

“The women at the Etiquette & Leadership Institute…walk the walk and talk the talk,” said Johnson. “They are true ambassadors of etiquette.”