Why More CEOs Need to Clean Toilets
Lessons in leadership from “Undercover Boss.”
In the new reality show, “Undercover Boss,” executive leaders go “undercover” as new hires in entry-level positions, to better understand how their organization works.
The first episode featured Larry O’Donnell, President of Waste Management, Inc. cleaning porta-potties along with one of his employees. After each show the executives reveal their true identity and talk about what they’ve learned.
To some people this is a revolutionary concept, but I have to ask, “Why doesn’t every manager, executive or CEO take time to understand what their employees actually do at work?”
I’ve conducted numerous organizational assessments and have spoken to several thousand employees, during my last twenty years as a consultant.” My clients include; hotels and restaurants, high tech, facilities and waste management, airlines, transportation, beverage bottling and distributing, public works, and call centers.
The most common complaint and question I hear is, “Why doesn’t my manager/ director/ CEO, try to do my job?” followed by, “ if he or she tried to do my work, they would understand what I have to deal with everyday.”
This is a big “DUH!” The common mantra these days is, “engaged employees are productive employees.” Employees who think you have no idea or empathy for them are not going to be engaged.
Read the full story on Fast Company.
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Undercover Boss – The Biggest New Hit
The biggest new hit on television is a reality show that did not get a head start in the summer, that remained dormant for half the television season, that seemed to have little chance to appeal to younger viewers, and that had to face formidable competition not only from “Desperate Housewives” on ABC, but also from three straight weeks of the Winter Olympics on NBC.
But the evidence is irrefutable: “Undercover Boss” on CBS is — so far at least — the breakout hit of the year, with the largest audience, the strongest appeal to younger viewers and the best performance against the toughest competition.
And it’s on CBS, the network that usually steers the conversation away from the young-viewer ratings that the other networks emphasize. With “Undercover Boss,” CBS is bragging about those numbers. The first thing that Kelly Kahl, the network’s top program scheduler, mentions about the show is how well it has done in the “young demos.”
As Mr. Kahl put it: “I can’t remember an audience profile like this. It has over a 3 rating with men between 18 and 34. When have you seen that on CBS?”
So how did it happen? Read the story on NY Times
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Montco CEO of e-commerce company to be on “Undercover Boss”
The top executive of a Montgomery County e-commerce giant is the latest CEO to go behind the scenes in the new hit CBS series“Undercover Boss” at 9 p.m. Sunday.
“I have missed the opportunity to be close to the day-to-day activities that are at the center of what we do and what enables us to deliver value to our clients and consumers,” Rubin says. ‘“Undercover Boss’ allowed me to better connect with the thousands of associates that make our company so successful. It was truly an amazing experience that I took to heart.”
Rubin started GSI in 1999 and at 37, he is one of the countries youngest CEOs . At age 12, he launched his first business in the basement of his family’s home.
GSI employs more than 4,500 people, rising to over 10,000 employees during the holidays and had revenues of more than $1 billion in 2009.
Read the full story on TV Watchers
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CBS ‘Undercover Boss’ back on top as TV returns to normal
- Image via Wikipedia
CBS was bolstered by its unscripted programming. “Undercover Boss” was Sunday’s most-watched program and 11th for the week, averaging 13.51 million viewers, while “Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains,” was 14th averaging 12.12 million viewers and “The Amazing Race” was 21st, with 10.10 million viewers.
Source:
O.C. register
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CEO of Pepperjam Parent Company on Undercover Boss
Michael Rubin, the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of affiliate network Pepperjam’s parent company, GSI Commerce, will star in this Sunday’s episode of the CBS reality series “Undercover Boss.”
The episode will be broadcast on CBS at 9:00 PM EST on Sunday, March 21, 2010.
Source: Pepperjam Network
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On ‘Undercover Boss,’ Churchill Downs Exec Horses Around, Gets Hosed
On Sunday, CBS’s (CBS) Undercover Boss took a turn around the track with Bill Carstanjen, COO of Churchill Downs (CHDN). As the University of California–Berkeley and Columbia–educated Carstanjen cared for horses, helped dress a jockey, and tried his hand at the bugle, the show gave viewers an in-depth look at the inside workings of the horse-racing world.
While some previous “undercover bosses” threw themselves wholeheartedly into their entry-level jobs, Carstanjen is far less engaged — in fact, three of his five supervisors question his effectiveness and work ethic. Gillian, a horse trainer and his first coworker, notes his skittishness with the horses and his seeming inability to complete the tasks she gives him. After he soaks Gillian while bathing a horse, she tells the camera crew, “Right now, Bill’s future is not looking the greatest. He just has a lot to learn.”
At Arlington Park, Carstanjen works the night shift with Denise, an $8-per-hour employee who commutes 90 minutes to clean luxury suites. After showing Carstanjen the ropes, Denise grows visibly agitated at his slow, awkward progress: “Billy wouldn’t be good at this. He’s just not cleaning material. He’s slowing me down tremendously.”
Carstanjen’s inefficiency becomes an even bigger problem when he works with Kenny, a jockey’s valet. The undercover boss is quickly overwhelmed by the quick pace of the job, and ultimately, his supervisor has to give up on educating him, choosing instead to simply tell the hapless exec every single thing he needs to do. Later, when Carstanjen wanders off in search of Kenny, both become useless as they spend minutes wandering around in search of each other.
Of course, there are also up moments. In his second job, blowing the bugle, Carstanjen’s painful fumbling offers comic relief. His total lack of musical experience, paired with disturbingly insufficient training, yields a bugle call that could best be described as tragic.
…
When Carstanjen presents his big reveal to his gimlet-eyed, well-dressed execs, the upshot of his argument is that Churchill Downs needs to “get a little bit personal” with its employees. But he doesn’t seem to sway his fellow suits — and it’s unclear if Carstanjen himself is swayed.
Staying true to the show’s formula, he gives nice, mildly lucrative surprises to all of his former supervisors, but there’s little question that Churchill Downs will continue to squeeze every penny possible out of its workers, many of whom will have to struggle to put food on the table. If the purpose of Undercover Boss is to show the transformative power of working with the great unwashed, the Bill Carstanjen episode was a sad failure.
See full article from DailyFinance.
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Undercover Boss Beats Celebrity Apprentice In Ratings
It turns out we’d rather watch our bosses work behind the scenes secretly than fire people publicly, even celebrities, as early ratings from Sunday night show Undercover Boss beating Celebrity Apprentice in the ratings. CBS appears to have a bona fide hit on its hands as it’s the clear winner this past Sunday night, beating it’s lead-in shows 60 Minutes and The Amazing Race, as well as everything else on the other networks.
Read the full story on Gather.
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‘Undercover Boss’ Spurs Waste Management New-Customer Inquiries
Waste Management Inc.’s president is learning that reality-television shows may be one man’s trash TV and another’s public-relations treasure.
Hits to the Houston-based company’s new-customer and career Web links surged after Lawrence O’Donnell, who is also chief operating officer, appeared on the CBS Corp. program “Undercover Boss” following the Feb. 7 Super Bowl.
“We got new business from customers who’ve said, ‘Wow, that’s the kind of company we want to do business with,’” O’Donnell said in an interview. “And you know, at first I said there’s no way I would do it.”
Waste Management saw a more-than-threefold jump in hits on its online “Become a Customer” Web link in the four days after the broadcast, compared with recent daily averages, Lynn Brown, vice president of corporate communications, said in an e-mail. Traffic to the company Web site’s Careers page almost doubled and inbound e-mails climbed 112 percent, she said.
Read the full story on Business Week.
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Four new CEO’s become an ‘Undercover Boss’ on CBS
CBS announced today the four remaining companies who are participating in the first season of UNDERCOVER BOSS. The series airs Sundays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The remaining Season One companies are:
- Roto-Rooter (Rick L. Arquilla, President and COO): The largest plumbing provider in North America
- 1-800-Flowers (Chris McCann, President): One of the world’s largest florists
- GSI Commerce (Michael G. Rubin, Chairman, President and CEO): The e-commerce giant behind numerous top U.S. retailers
- Herschend Family Entertainment (Joel Manby, President and CEO): A leader in the world of family theme parks and attractions
The air schedule for upcoming episodes of UNDERCOVER BOSS follows:
- Sunday, March 14: Churchill Downs (Bill Carstanjen, COO)
- Sunday, March 21: GSI Commerce (Michael G. Rubin, Chairman, President and CEO)
- Sunday, March 28: Herschend Family Entertainment (Joel Manby, President and CEO)
*Airdates for the two additional episodes will be announced at a later date.
Each week, UNDERCOVER BOSS follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organizations and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their companies run.
The companies whose chief executives have already made the undercover journey during the first season are Waste Management (Larry O’Donnell, President and C.O.O.), Hooters (Coby G. Brooks, President and C.E.O.), 7-Eleven (Joseph M. DePinto, President and C.E.O.) and White Castle (Dave Rife, Owner/Executive Board Member). This week’s episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS (Sunday, March 14) follows the COO of the world famous horse racing company Churchill Downs, Bill Carstanjen, as he travels to the backstretch of his company where he will walk, wash and feed the massive thoroughbreds and discover what life is like for the cleaning crew after hours.
UNDERCOVER BOSS is the number one new series of the 2009-2010 season, averaging 18.74 million viewers, 8.0/17 in adults 25-54 and 7.1/17 in adults 18-49.
Stephen Lambert and Eli Holzman are executive producers for Studio Lambert, Ltd.
(source: CBS)
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Undercover Boss – Churchill Downs
Executive Bill Carstanjen faces his fear of horses while working under cover at Churchill Downs on the next episode of Undercover Boss.
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