How Will ‘Undercover Boss’ Stay Undercover?

Will CBS be able to keep “Undercover Boss” undercover next season?
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler told TheWrap the crew has some new tricks up its sleeve — but she won’t spill the beans until taping is completed.
“I’m not going to give away any secrets,” she told The Wrap.
At first she said the average employee in the field is too busy to be looking over their shoulder to see if the chief executive of the company has infiltrated their ranks. And then she said even if a camera is following a new employee, “If you hear hoof beats, you don’t necessarily see the horse.”
Then adding to the intrigue, she said, “The show has a very smart production team. I don’t think the employees will realize.”
When asked point blank if that meant hidden cameras, she paused and said, “I don’t want to give any secrets away, but it will be smartly done.”

Undercover Boss Looks to Wall Street Firms

Undercover Boss, CBS’ unexpected reality hit, is heading to Wall Street, according to the Wall Street Journal. The show has reportedly begun calling financial firms hoping to find a senior executive willing to appear on the show, in which CEOs go “undercover” to see what it’s like to be an low-level employee at their firms.

Source: NY Magazine

What ‘Undercover Boss’ Teaches Us All

With far too many Americans out of work, and employers cutting another 20,000 last month, many people have come to blame chief executive officers for not having the pulse of their own companies. Undercover Boss has done nothing to change that impression.

In the first episode Larry O’Donnell, the CEO of Waste Management, poses as “Randy Lawrence,” a construction worker supposedly being filmed for a story about down-on-their-luck Americans in search of entry-level employment. O’Donnell, who earns nearly $3 million a year according to company filings, experiences the backbreaking work of the company’s frontline employees. He’s even fired during his seven-day stint after failing to fill a trash bag.

During his undercover week O’Donnell sees an employee stretched impossibly thin by performing eight different jobs and also finds that he can’t keep up sorting cardboard and recyclables. “I’m going to approach the whole way I do my job differently,” he says on the show. “I don’t want to be doing things that are going to cause disruption. The things I’ve learned could change the way we do business forever … and make things better for our frontline employees.”

His experience shows why leaders who focus solely on the balance sheet can’t succeed. If executives look only at numbers, they can’t make the most of honest feedback, recognize the limits of their knowledge or avoid repeating mistakes. When leaders see their shortcomings as a chance to learn and grow, they gain the ability–and credibility–to help others do the same.

…

It will take a while to see if any of the leaders featured onUndercover Boss fulfill the promises they’ve made on the show, but that the program is on at all illustrates that CEOs are beginning to understand that they’ve got to change if they’re going to truly succeed in a postrecession world.

Read the full story on Forbes

TV’s ‘Undercover Boss’ makes surprise visit to Camden’s Adventure Aquarium

Mercedes Franklin never noticed her new co-worker John Briggs bore a remarkable resemblance to the man whose picture graced the cover of every company newsletter.

“I felt kind of stupid that I didn’t put two and two together,” said Franklin, a cash control specialist at the Adventure Aquarium. “In the hallway, there’s a newsletter with his picture on it and I pass it, like, 100 times a day.”

It ends up John Briggs was really Joel Manby, president and chief executive officer of Herschend Family Entertainment, the aquarium’s parent company and Franklin’s boss.

Manby spent an entire day in July helping Franklin run the aquarium’s Creature Feature exhibit, a touch tank, and wiping fingerprints off the glass at some of the exhibits.

“They told us it was a documentary on a young man who was unemployed and wanted to go back into the work force,” said Franklin, who lives in the Parkside section of Camden.

Manby said he agreed to do the show because he wanted to know what it was like to work an entry level job at the company he runs.

“I was amazed by the dedication and hard work of the employees,” Manby said. “I have a caring heart. We had a lot of hardship growing up. I’ve always been concerned when I have to make difficult decisions.”

Manby spent two days at the aquarium and said interacting with his employees totally changed his outlook.

“At the end of the day, I was so run down,” he said. “Mercedes was such an amazing lady.”

Read the full story on Courier Post Online

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

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)

CBS RENEWS UNDERCOVER BOSS CONTRACT

Network Orders Second Cycle of UNDERCOVER BOSS, This Season’s # 1 New Series, For 2010/11 Season

CBS has ordered a second cycle of the hit reality series, UNDERCOVER BOSS, for the 2010/11 broadcast season.

UNDERCOVER BOSS, which follows high-level chief executives as they slip anonymously into the rank and file of their companies, 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.

The series premiered following the Super Bowl to 38.7 million viewers, the largest audience for a new series following the Super Bowl. It also ranks as the biggest new series premiere since 1987 and the most-watched premiere episode of any reality series.

“We are thrilled with the overwhelming response to the series and how audiences seem to connect to it on several levels,” said Jennifer Bresnan, Senior Vice President, CBS Alternative Programming. “The wish fulfillment of seeing the top boss perform jobs of the rank and file is universal, and the employees’ stories discovered at each company are often relatable and inspirational.”

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.

Stephen Lambert and Eli Holzman are executive producers for Studio Lambert, Ltd.

Source: CBS

Bad economy boosts CBS hit ‘Undercover Boss’

Phil Rosenthal from the Chicago Tribune shares some of his business thoughts on Undercover Boss; here are the highlights:

A significant number of the 38.6 million viewers who got a taste of “Boss” after the Super Bowl came back for more the next three Sundays. The most recent episode — featuring the head of White Castle working menial jobs in his restaurants, a company bakery and a frozen food plant — drew more than 15 million viewers opposite Vancouver’s Closing Ceremony.

But the true lure simply may be the way “Undercover Boss” demonstrates that, as hard as the executives think they work, those under them work just as hard or harder with less compensation and less support, a message that can’t help but resonate.

“The principle of the boss who doesn’t really know what it’s like on the front line is a principle that is strong,” Stephen Lambert, the show’s executive producer, told a group of reporters a few weeks back.

The most understandable but least satisfying aspect of the program is that no one has gotten fired for what they have said or done in front of the CEOs. The boss of Hooters, for example, was inexplicably forgiving to a manager who demeaned his wait staff in a variety of galling ways on camera. He wasn’t even written up on camera.

“The reward, punishment and future course of action for the employees is determined by the chief executives at the participating companies,” CBS spokesman Chris Ender explained, although producers have editorial control.

Local 7-Eleven official discusses reality show

NewSok talked to Jim Brown, CEO of Oklahoma’s 7-Eleven stores, which are separate from the Dallas-based chain, about his thought of the show:

“It resembled a one-hour commercial,” the chief executive said.
The two companies are remarkably dissimilar, he continued. At the end of the show, several employees were given opportunities within the company — in the marketing department or ownership of a new store — that they didn’t think were available.
“Our employees are taught about the opportunities on their very first day with the company,” Brown said. “We promote our operations management staff from within. The positions with the most responsibility are occupied by men and women who started with the company working in stores, including me.”

Read more: on NewSok.com

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