What Can an Executive Learn By Cleaning Toilets?

CBS’ new series, Undercover Boss debuted last night after the Super Bowl with the President and COO of Waste Management, Larry O’Donnell posing as a entry-level new hire at various facilities and jobs.  In case you missed it, his shifts included a residential trash route, picking up loose debris at a landfill, receiving clerk for incoming trucks, sorting recyclables, and yes, cleaning portable toilets at a fairgrounds.  Reviews of the series are already mixed.  Some see it as a publicity stunt, others a case of bad PR judgment, and others a genuine eye-opening experience for what seemed to be a likable and genuine executive who is far removed from the daily experience of his 45,000 employees.

Regardless, it illustrates the power of leaders having an awareness and appreciation for their people and what is necessary to keep an organization moving.  The old axiom, Managing by Walking Around, exists for a reason.  Leaders can touch people, understand their issues at and away from work, get ideas for improvement, and expose injustices in the workplace – even those that might have been created to serve an honorable intent.

This is more than just good TV.  As leaders, it should at least provoke in us a sensitivity to what we might be missing and prompt us to build in capacity in our schedules to spend focused time at ground level of our organizations.

-Chuck Hyde, COO