I LOOOVE UNDERCOVER BOSS.
There. I said it.
Give me a CEO with a ridiculous beard, an unfamiliar name badge and absolutely no idea how to operate the fryer.
I’m in.
Call her Kathleen. Call him Earl.
And when Kathleen gets $20,000 so her daughter can go to college?
Or Earl gets the car he desperately needs — and someone finally sees that having a job hasn’t stopped him from having nowhere to sleep?
Yep. Tears.
Mine too.
I’ve never been the CEO of a giant corporation. But I recognise that urge:
Let me do something.
We can make this better.
Surely we can bloody make this better.
What gets me even more is the moment before the cheque.
When the boss struggles with something their colleague makes look ridiculously easy.
When they discover how much knowledge lives behind that counter.
When someone tells them what it takes to get through a shift. And then through the rest of the day.
You can almost see an entire explanation of the world falling apart.
“Oh God.
I had no idea.”
#HUMILITY.
I know a little about that bit.
After years of digital programmes, coaching and conference stages, I picked up a grass trimmer.
My colleagues could do things I couldn’t.
See things I didn’t.
Anticipate problems I hadn’t even noticed.
I brought plenty of experience.
I still needed someone to show me how to do the job.
Again.
And sometimes again.
#THANKYOUFORYOURPATIENCE.
That’s why I love watching the boss become a beginner.
For a moment, they need the very people who usually need their permission.
And something opens.
Now comes the question that keeps me busy:
What happens when the beard comes off?
Back at the desk.
Back in the meetings.
Back where decisions are made.
Does what we’ve seen change what we do?
The gift matters. To that person, it may matter enormously.
And there are other people behind other counters.
Could we make it easier for them to tell us what we haven’t understood?
Could we give them the tools, time and authority their work actually requires?
Could we let their knowledge change our decisions?
I want to keep the tears.
And carry that AHA into Tuesday.
Because “I had no idea” can be a beautiful beginning.
“What am I going to do now that I know?”
That’s where leadership gets interesting.
/kay