Recently, I often watched the Undercover Boss USA TV series on TV shows or via youtube. This show performs every single CEO for a full week to go undercover and find out what is really happening in their own company in daily basis. Through the mission the boss mostly found an eye opening experience even a new paradigm of thinking, belief, and value. At first, I watched the show just for fun and entertain myself, but then I found a really meaningful insight through this show. In this post I will share to you at least three things what I learnt from undercover boss which are happiness always comes when you share, good boss or bad boss always matters, listen first – understand second – do third – and then make people understand your point of view.

While doing the mission undercover the CEO has to play several role in whole week. Some of them act as a customer service, chef in the kitchen of restaurant, or a truck driver. Through this, the CEO started to understand the stories of their employees, what makes them happy or sad, what are important for them in life, what are their dreams, what thing makes them still there in their company and many more. Not one or two of the CEO who can not finish through the end of mission because they can’t stand to face the fact that there are so many thing they already missed and make the employees struggling in their job and live. They break out their undercover and tell their employee that he or she is the boss of the company. Some of them even crying when they speak the truth to their employee. However, if the mission is going well, at the end of the show the CEO will meet again with the employee who train them in the whole week and tell them everything. After that the CEO will give feedback and try to overcome the problem of the employee in their working place even personal life. Some of them gave more than $50.000 in cash, paid the mortgage of the employee’s house, started a fundraising activity to help the member of the family who are sick and urgently need help and so on. All the employee were happy to have it and some of them even don’t believe that the good things like that is happening in their life. At this point I see happiness even in the eye and smile of the boss. They get happiness through giving and enjoying it. One of the boss build a crisis fund for the employees and starts the foundation with 2 million dollars! They does not feel sad even spending million dollars out of their pockets. In fact, they are happy because of it. Maybe some of us think that that’s stupid even crazy to make decision like that. However the CEOs are proving to us that happiness can not only comes when we get something but it always come when we give something and makes other people happy.

In the show, I also see differences between good leader and bad leader. In one of the show, the CEO fired a managers of restaurant directly because the attitude of the manager to the employee. His attitude brings bad ambient to the whole team. The team member were sad and didn’t have any hope to thrive. But on the shows, there’s a manager of fast food restaurant that always trust his team, encourage the staff to grow, motivate them to give the best service to the customer. As the result, the CEO give him a brand new restaurant to lead and manage in his own name. This contrast brings me to a new belief that leaders no matter they’re good or bad are influencing the performance of the whole team. In some show the CEO found some problem in their facility that interfere the performance of their staff but it is a small thing because he can directly can have a phone call to buy a brand new facility or fix it right away. But to have a good staff is much worthy than those million facilities. Because of it, some other CEO take a step a head to maintain their best talent in their company by giving scholarship, coaching, transferring them to headquarter to have cross experience sharing and many more.

The last thing I learnt from this show is listen first – understand second – do third – and then make people understand your point of view. Many bosses have an eye opening experience because they can listen then understand first. They hold their ego and try to put themselves like an empty glass which ready to be fulfilled with a bunch of new knowledge and experience. After they understand the situation they do something to fix the problem and finally share their point of view about the problem. I think this approach works well and beneficial for every leader. Through this, the CEO not only see the staff as a statistical number or their performance as a graph of sales achievement. Through this they go beyond and realize that every single decision they make behind their desk literally affecting hundred even thousands of their employees and their families Now, I have a commitment to my self. I should go for my master, enhance my career and finally I should be a good leader. I should be a good leader who are taking care of all of my staff, give them opportunity to grow, respect their aspiration and do walk the talk. I believe that leaders are really affecting everybody lives, so that we should do something to make sure that the leaders in this whole world are a good man. How to do it? Yeah, You and I should be a good leader that what we dream of.