Undercover Boss

Undercover Boss - what a very interesting IV show! CEO's go undercover to see their organizations from the inside out. I found lots of leadership lessons expressed in such a practical way. Although the CEO only spends a day here and a day there in various locations within the company (and only for a total of one week), lots of issues come to the surface.

The second episode (the first one I watched) filmed the CEO of Hooters taking a look at his company from the hard work of the kitchen, to the reputation of the Hooter waitress, to the various approaches to restaurant management, and to the factory worker packaging the cheese sauces for retail sales.

I have never been, nor intend to go to Hooters because of its degrading policies they enforce toward women, but the insights that the CEO received were significant. One manager had a “playboy” mentality toward his waitresses and treated them with disrespect. He had them line up for a physical inspection, played inappropriate games to see who would get to go home early, and talked to them like a sheik with his harem. He deserved to be fired (maybe the TV show would not permits this).

Although the CEO never really understood the negativity of his company's image, he was surprised to hear the comments of many made toward the restaurant's reputation. His solution was to make a training video for waitresses – even CEO's miss the handwriting on the wall sometimes.

One major lesson that impressed me about this episode was the importance of personal relationships within an organization – big or small. Those involved in the manufacturing of the Hooter food products had no personal touch from cooperate headquarters. Their feelings of abandonment and disconnect greatly impacted their morale and motivation. Respect, support and encouragement are such keys to job satisfaction. Intrinsic motivation can be energized by a personal touch that costs the organization very little money.

I caught the first episode of this TV series on line. It followed the CEO of Waste Management. He visited many facets of his business: port-a-johns, recycling, land fill, and garbage pick-up. He discovered some great workers with great attitudes along with a few insensitive people and policies. He was fired from picking up trash at the landfill to being invited over to dinner with a worker that multi-tasked four positions.

I appreciated the CEO seeing himself in some of the difficulties facing his company. There indeed were some people (mostly managers) that failed to embrace the spirit of the organization, but the CEO zeroed in on his responsibility and role to make the company better. It would have been so much easier to blame shift the negatives to others, but he was pretty sensitive to his challenges and the changes that he could bring to the table.

This interesting show provides an insightful perspective into the life and workings of real companies. Check it out if you get a chance and evaluate the leadership of the CEOs, mangers and line workers.