Jim Fish likes to ride along with trash crews and attend 1 a.m. safety briefings. Which might seem a bit odd for the CEO of the largest waste management company in the United States.
But Fish knows something about leadership that is worth remembering. The more status a leader holds, the more important it is for them to demonstrate their willingness to do what they ask of others.
In the case of Jim Fish, the CEO of Waste Management Inc., learning how the company really operates, building rapport with line workers, and gaining insights into the problems that corporate headquarters might not understand, pushes him to visit work sites and ride along with drivers. He does this about 20 times a year.
Regrettably for Fish, his Board required him to stop throwing trash with his workers as well.
Not surprisingly, Fish’s credibility throughout the organization is off the charts. People respond differently to leaders who go out of their way to do the everyday tasks they ask of others.
Fish doesn’t have to haul trash or attend safety meetings every week, but the fact that he does so on occasion, and with an open mind to learn, changes the way he is viewed and listened to in the organization.
This principle works in every organization, large or small, profit or non-profit. The greater the status difference between the leader and team member, the more impactful the message it sends.
For Fish, his engagement with drivers and front-line workers revealed a problem of safety understanding.
In a company like Waste Management, concerns and costs related to worker safety are critical issues that never go away. The safety record is highly correlated with the success of the company.
Through his site visits, Fish learned that many English-only speaking managers were having their safety talks translated into Spanish for their workers.
Fish knew something was being lost in the translation. By hiring and promoting bilingual managers, he transformed the company’s safety record in a few short years.
He learned this insight by showing up and talking openly with team members who trusted him. Trust is the outcome for high-status leaders who do what they ask of others.
