Are you kidding?
Feb 26, 2010Have you watched the new TV show, Undercover Boss? The new CBS reality series follows high-level chief executives as they go ‘undercover’ in their own companies. These execs get an up-close-and-personal look at the inner workings of their organizations, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. Waste Management, 7-Eleven and Hooters have already been featured.
My favorite part of the show is at the end. The exec surprises the employees he has worked with throughout the week. He reveals his true identity and proceeds to either reward good employees with words of praise or promotions, or he rips into bad employees (in which case the employee is left feeling lucky he still even has a job after it’s all said and done).
You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me! How do these employees not know they’re working hand-in-hand with their company’s own CEO?? Have they never looked at their company’s website? Have they never picked up a corporate newsletter or company-issued press release? Have they never watched “Squawk Box” on CNBC? Have they never read an annual report if it’s a public company…or at least looked at the pictures? Can it really be that if they were riding in the elevator with the chairman of the company that they would have no idea who he is? That’s pathetic!
Come on people, wake up: know who you’re working for! Know who signs your paychecks! I’m flabbergasted that this program is a success simply because these people are so stupid as to not know who runs their company. By the end of the show each week, we’re left with the feeling of just how important these companies are to many of its employees – their entire livelihoods depend on it. Yet up until this point, they’ve never taken the time to learn anything about the company. Don’t they have bigger goals for themselves, and the vision to see themselves moving up the ranks of the corporate ladder? Or is it possible that all they want out of their life is to live paycheck to paycheck? I am shocked and appalled that anyone can work for a company and have no idea who the management team of that company is – unacceptable.
I want to tell you that my client, White Castle, is going to be featured on Sunday’s show. We love them!! They are an awesome client and an awesome brand – everyone knows White Castle! All I can say is that I sure hope the employees at White Castle have some idea of who their CEO is. If they didn’t before, they sure do now!!
Tune in to CBS on Sunday at 9 PM EST to watch….
I guess not all CEO’s are like you you know all of your people!!! you are an awesome BOSS!!!!
I agree Jordan, but the CEOs could make an effort to be more visible to their employees as well. Sure, the employees have a responsibility to know who is leading the company they work for. But isn’t the responsibility really on the CEO to be visible – isn’t that part of being a leader? I bet every one of your employees knows your face & your voice and could recognize you blindfolded.
That was the 1st thing I said when I heard of the show!!!!!!!!!!!! Its only entertainment
i find the premise quite believable, provided the company has more than 200 employees. once you get to that size, you DON’T know everyone’s name or face.
do you know everyone who works for you? do you know how they respond , or fail to respond, to the public at large? i’d like to think what i’ve personally encountered was an aberration, not top down, but perhaps the hoi polloi IS taking a cue from you, jordan.
as for knowing about the company, reading the annual reports, chekcing the web for breaking news, many persons are too busy trying to make ends meet, dealing with their personal responsibilities, fear of the unknown, the overdue mortgage, the medical copays they can’t make, the mounting recession, to watch CNBC or CNN. you turn off your cell when you take your kids to school, don’t you? [this month's INC magazine-nice photo of you in the team jersey, btw] don’t throw stones.
We have way more then 200 employees and everyone knows who i am. Zimmerman is a big company today but because of the internet and my office visits there is not one person who would not know me if i were in front of them. Any CEO that is not visible should not be a CEO. We have the responsibility to be seen and be present. The more we connect with employee base and the more they understand the goals of the company the better the company is going to do….
I agree, employees should at least know of their management team. But to be fair, these are operations people who don’t work at a computer all day. Many of the execs where I work have been there 20-30 yrs and their bios still have photos from their early career. Give those folks a break.
Lose the cynicism. And don’t assume they are ambition-less drones “living paycheck to paycheck” because they don’t know a CEO obviously too detached to care about the state of affairs inside his own company…until someone decided to make a show about it.
Mr. Zimmerman, on one level I agree with you but on the other hand, you are assuming everyone works in the same type A, do your research or your out, business environment as you do. Do think the line cook at Hooters needs to know who his or her CEO is to perform their job well and have a realistic expectation of getting promoted to kitchen manager?
If you’re in the Marines and drilled on who your commandant is on a daily basis for three months in boot camp or by chance work for a company named after the guy in charge and writes the above post, you could say there may be an incentive to know who runs the joint.
CorpLady, nothing i said had anything to do with ambition, it was a statement that most people who aren’t in the executive office [and even many that are] have concerns which don’t include knowing the face on the inside cover of the annual report. it doesn’t impact their work or their potential for advancement. it isn’t necessary for everyone to know everything or everyone else at the company. i worked with a firm that had a monthly bowling party to promote cross departmental cohesion. once the company grew to 85 staff, the staff would recongregate into their familiar departments, despite the point being to ‘mix things up and get to know each other.’
so, JZ, everyone knows who you are. do YOU know what your staff’s response rate is to email from unknown sources? not spam, just casual email inquiries. EVERY email should be responded to, even if only by bounce-back. as an advertising company it is incumbent on you. you never know who someone actually is, which is the point of the show. i personally have sent zadvertising emails [4 or 5 total] requesting information, addressed to the various emails i found on the site. i haven’t received one response. not one. do i sound whiny? perhaps. i think you need to learn a little tolerance for the shortcomings of others. no one is perfect, you and yours included, me and mine included.
As an employee, why invest in putting an emotional attachment to a company that works you to the bone without proper compensation, or for that matter, respect? (most) People are trying to simply keep their jobs in order to live their outside life relatively comfortably. Being obsessed with a obvious dead-end career is pointless. So knowing what your CEO looks like is a trivial and ultimately and afterthought. Afterall, most CEOs arent there escorting you on the way out after you have been laid-off.
Not every company (thank god for that) is the same as ZADV, where you have a CEO walking around the “common folk” or has pictures of them hanging everywhere.
I agree with the point Mr Zimmerman has made. However, their are two side of which to look at this from. I work at one of the largest and most successful restaurants in Anchorage, AK. This company employs well over 300 people, and I guarantee their is not one person who does not know who the 2 owners are. This is due to the fact that during a 3 part (separate days) interview, on the last day, the owners visions, names, biography etc are introduced and everyone has to eventually meet them. In fact, they routinely will come through the restaurant and talk to us about the business. They are very busy entrepreneurs with many other businesses they manage and are currently working on opening up another 7 restaurants in the next couple of years. Clearly, it pays to know your employees and their ambitions. Now, from the employee side of things, I can attest that every single employee is not interested in knowing who the owners or ceo is of the company that is employing them. This is because most people (especially in the restaurant or labor business) do not have high ambitions for themselves. MOST people ARE content with just having a job to live paycheck to paycheck. Complacency is learned at an early age in our society. Even more so today with the advances in technology. However, those who are ambitious will take it upon themselves to find out who the ceo or owner is of their company and seek to learn what they can from them.
Jordan,
A person standing at a till at a Mcdonalds restaurant wont probably care who the upper management. Ask him who is shift supervisor is and they’ll tell you. I think you’re being a little naive about all this.
Thanks for your post. I can understand your frustration – times are tough out there for lots of people and lots of companies. I have always and will always make every effort to get to know each and every one of my associates, no matter how big we get. I feel so strongly about it that I meet with every new associate within their first couple of weeks at the agency. Everyone here knows that my door is always open to them. And I certainly hope that no one that works for me feels like they are stuck in a dead-end career. If you follow my blog, you know I’m all about finding your passion in life, and then working until it hurts to achieve that passion. So if you’re stuck in a dead-end job that doesn’t inspire you, get out! Find your real passion and go for it!!
Thank you for posting this fair and honest comment. As you can probably imagine, I have no problem being honest right back at you. While the traditional way of working would suggest that everyone should get a courtesy call back, the way we operate business is far from traditional – and you can imagine how many thousands of contacts we get on any given day. What I can tell you is that the people we respond to have one of two things going for them. First, they have something incredibly valuable to say – and it is amazing how many only think they do. The second is that they have the constitution to never give up, and the idea of not being heard is not even an option to them. You sent 4-5 emails – not many attempts in the most passive media form in existence. If anyone on my team told me that they could not reach their goals because 4-5 emails they wrote have not been responded to, they would not be on my team any longer. Do you have any idea how many swings I am willing to take before ever calling it a strike out? You don’t. To be considered by the national brands we can now call our partners, the number could be in the thousands.
When I started out in this business, I went 0-10. I had two choices: I could shrug my shoulders and whimper, or I could STAND UP 11. I stood up. I kept swinging. What I suggest to you is look in the mirror and see if you’ve really got something worth hearing. If you do, look closer in the mirror and see if you really have the courage to fight for what you believe in.
Mr. Zimmerman and respondents, I join the conversation a bit late, but read and respond with great interest and thought. I feel, the volley of comments, responses, and opinions highlight many issues facing not only corporate America, but many aspects of our contemporary US work environment.
Although having never guided a company the size, breadth and scope of Zimmerman Advertising, I have led, motivated and managed several small companies, always trying to imbue a similar vision, drive and dedication in my teams, as you advocate, Mr. Zimmerman.
In contrast, possibly because I did not work hard enough, or had a flawed business model, my businesses have not yet succeeded. As a result, in the past several years, I have often found myself struggling to make financial ends meet, often working at minimum wage jobs at organizations similar to those featured in “Under Cover Boss.”
I will also offer, as something of a disclaimer, my distaste for reality television programming, which may seep into my comments. I read, the recent spate of this genre of programming is largely the result of consumer demand, but also the result of changing advertising models and modest costs of producing these shows in contrast to original content and programming.
I live in southeast Florida and usually try to shop at Publix Supermarkets. In this area, Publix generally competes most closely, at least from the perspective of store count, with Winn Dixie. Publix hires from a similar labor pool here, yet my personal perception of the two chains varies widely with a definite preference for the Publix “brand” of quality, and more important for me, the consistent “quality” of their employees.
I’m sure there are a myriad of reasons for my perception of Publix, but one reason may be that all new hires are required to attend a paid half day training session on a Saturday morning before beginning work. New hires are taught company history, management structure and for lack of a better term, “the Publix way.” Publix also stresses employees are working “for” a team and an organization, not a single boss. Publix’s founder is now sleeping, he has passed away. Publix is a publicly traded privately held employee owned company with $24.3 billion in 2009 revenue and 141,000 employees.
In the last several years, I spent a calendar quarter working with Publix as a cashier where I was paid $8.25 an hour, hired on a permanent part-time basis, had access to a lauded health care program after 1,000 hours of work in a calendar year and there was a clear path to management for those interested and willing to pursue the opportunity. Unfortunately, most employees at Publix are struggling to survive, often working several jobs, walking, bicycling or busing to work, and often working solely for the health plan for themselves and their dependents.
In support of several comments in a thread by Ms. Weinbaum and Mr. Joseph S from Alaska, there may be a significant difference in the organizations featured in “Undercover Boss” and Zimmerman Advertising that make comparisons difficult. Waste Management, 7-Eleven, Hooters, White Castle and Publix are predominantly “B2C” (Business to Consumer) organizations relying largely on often unskilled, less educated and emigrating workers. Zimmerman Advertising is most likely a predominantly “B2B” (Business to Business) organization that draws from a largely American educated native work force.
I would summarize saying thank you for your continued inspiration Mr. Zimmerman, keep responding Ms. Weinbaum and Mr. Joseph S from Alaska, for providing your additional perspective to the discussion and a tempered thanks to “Under Cover Boss” for providing a topic for all of us to discuss. Also, a second and subsequent seasons of “Under Cover Boss” may send the less redeeming, yet socially relevant “American Idol” to an earlier and gracious end. I can only hope.