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.
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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
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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’ 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’: 10 Management Lessons from 7-Eleven
Here are 10 Management Lessons from this week’s Undercover Boss according to bnet:
- Think synergy.
- Continuous improvement is key.
- A fresh set of eyes can see missed opportunities.
- Employees can inspire management.
- Many great leaders started at the bottom.
- Communications is always a challenge.
- Replicate what works.
- An army runs on infrastructure and logistics.
- There are tricks to doing just about anything.
- Engineers make great executives.
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