Undercover Boss: The Power of Connecting with Your Employees

I don't know what got into me, but something prompted me to check out the reality TV show, Undercover Boss on CBS.com. You know, this is the show where CEOs take on the guise of regular, entry-level employees and go deep undercover to behold their enterprise from a vantage point they rarely, if ever, appreciate.

I found the show to be both shamelessly exploitative and emotionally manipulative, and yet also surprisingly enlightening.

I watched the episode featuring Michael Rubin, CEO of the billion-dollar e-Commerce company GSI. During the course of the show's 40 minutes, Rubin struggles to load a truck, feels the stress of dealing with customer complaints, is inspired by the skill and positive attitude of several of his employees, and is enraged when he witnesses a call center representative mistreat a customer.

At the end, in predictable fashion, he reveals his true identity to his employees and showers them with the requisite financial rewards (except for the rude customer service rep, she gets somewhat of a stern rebuke).

Is it hokey? Yes. Is it all bad? No.

I am convinced that if CEOs took the time to appreciate and connect with their employees the way these shameless promoters (a.k.a. "undercover bosses") have done, a couple of pretty profound things would happen:

(1) Bosses would be blown away by the quality of some the people on their payroll and the extent to which these star performers are under-appreciated and under-utilized. They'd become more adroit at spotting these gems and maybe even at developing them into good organizational leaders.

And...

(2) Employees would be mightily impressed with the boss' sincere efforts to connect with them on a more emotional and human level. They would begin to see their boss as more of an engaged, and caring human being, and less as a detached, insensitive suit with a big title.

Employees are hungry for this kind of connection with their leaders, but many leaders are unwilling, or too fearful of appearing weak or soft, to try it out. It's far easier, as Rubin aptly points out, to sit in the corner office staring at forecasts and barking orders.

Yet studies like the one conducted by Jim Collins and expounded upon in his book Good to Great reveal just how critical this Level 5 leadership is to building great companies. It turns out you can be a tough as nails CEO like former Southwest Airlines chief Herb Kelleher and still embody the virtues of humility, empathy and understanding.

Such a leader can work wonders in an organization and they're desperately needed - especially in this hyper-competitive, globalized and inter-connected world where being "good" is not nearly good enough. Your company should be aiming for greatness!

Companies need a CEO who values and connects deeply with his people and allows them to be co-authors of the organization's customer-centered future. This is probably THE most important work a CEO can do and all too often it's relegated to the back burner, far behind more "pressing matters".

And so the vicious cycle continues...until someone, maybe an entry-level employee, comes along and has the guts to lead and be the catalyst for change.

Who knew a reality TV show could actually teach us something? Stay tuned.