Respect: It’s Time to Get Dirty
This is one of my all-time favorite stories. It even has full feature coverage in my upcoming book One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership (that’s the cover there on the left). You can even pre-order a copy of the book now and get a ridiculously large discount on Amazon (CLICK HERE TO BUY) or Barnes & Noble (CLICK HERE TO BUY). Not sure how long those discounts will last so… you know… Anyway, on to the important stuff.
My platoon was out in the field on training exercises. We had been out there for about two weeks so we all smelled kind of “ripe” at that point. One of the more senior officers in my battalion came to my unit’s area to see how things were going. This “gentleman” personified the term – he was an “officer’s officer” (versus being a “soldier’s officer” which we’ll explore in a moment).
He sauntered up to my 18 year old driver (a brand new buck private – the lowest ranking man in the Army) and said “Where’s Lieutenant Figliuolo?”
My driver pointed toward our tank. A pair of boots was sticking out from underneath the vehicle. The officer in question became irked. Then things got really interesting…
“No. Maybe you didn’t understand my question private. Where is LIEUTENANT Figliuolo?”
“He’s under the tank, sir.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said he’s under the tank, sir.”
The senior officer barked “Lieutenant Figliuolo!” I almost smacked my head on the underside of the tank because I was startled by his call. I quickly scrambled from below my tank and stood at attention before my superior.
“What were you doing under that tank?”
“Fixin’ track sir.”
“Why are you fixing track?”
“Because it needed fixed and I’m already done with all my other responsibilities.”
This senior officer shook his head somewhat befuddled at what an officer would be doing turning a wrench. He left me with a brusque “Carry on.” Needless to say the story had circulated among all the enlisted men in the company by lunch and across the battalion by dinner.
Suddenly Lieutenant Figliuolo had street cred. I was “one of them” – a regular working guy who just happened to have an officer’s bar on my shoulders. The simple act of crawling in the mud to turn a wrench earned me respect for who I was rather than respect for what I wore on my uniform. It made me a “soldier’s officer” – an officer who truly cared about and cared for his soldiers first and foremost.
It’s a simple principle, really. Accept the fact you’re no better than anyone else. No one. And no one is any better than you.
We’re all people – we just have different skills and responsibilities. You’re not above any work you have the skills to perform. Acting like you are will earn you nothing but disdain. Showing that you’re not will endear you to all the folks who make you successful and make you look good – your team. So when the occasion calls for it, get down in the mud and turn the wrench.
If you enjoyed this post, there are many more stories like it in my upcoming book One Piece of Paper. Go pre-order your copy now at a big discount (BUY AT AMAZON or BUY AT BARNES & NOBLE).
– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC
– Get the latest updates on my upcoming book One Piece of Paper – CLICK HERE
The principle of leading because you are liked and respected instead of hated and feared is a great one. No better way to do that than to show you aren’t above working like anyone else!
@rpeckstein – great question. I’d say you’re turning the wrench too often if the team has become conditioned to expect you’re going to just do it frequently. In situations where everyone on the team is busy and you’re going to pitch in (contribute) just make it clear to them what role you’re playing. “Hey, I know all you folks are slammed so I’m going to pick up some of the workload and be an extra pair of hands until we get caught up.” That frames that instance as an “unusual circumstance.” In situations where you point out work that needs done and the “natural owner” of the work looks at you blankly expecting you to do it, there’s nothing wrong with leading with a directive: “Hey Jim, can you take care of turning the wrench? I need to attend to my other responsibilities such as (blank).” Let them know clearly that you expect them to do their job but at the same time remind them you have other responsibilities. The last case could be one where no one is busy but you feel like getting dirty for the sake of getting dirty and earning a little respect. You can position it as “Hey Jim, I know turning the wrench is your job but why don’t you let me take a crack at it this one time so I can keep my wrench-turning skills from getting too rusty in case I need to pitch in during a crisis.” In all situations it’s really about properly managing an expectation in an explicit manner rather than letting your team believe what they want to believe. Hope this helps.
@Anonymous – I agree – this situation was the exception and the vast majority of leaders I met in the military were “get dirty” kind of folks. That said, I’m surprised many times with how that mindset does NOT always translate to the corporate world. Just trying to take a military example that was a bit of an anomaly and draw the broader lesson/conclusion for folks in the private sector. Thanks for sharing and thanks for your service.
Love this story. This is so true. I work in a distribution center as an industrial engineer. One of the other managers asked me last week what I do to make my job look so easy & for my initiatives to get the least resistance from employees. One of my tips was to never be afraid of getting dirty. I always lent a hand on the floor. I’ve always wanted to. I want to see and learn everything (the good & the bad) about what they do. People start trusting me and then I’m no longer the person that tells them what to do, but a person that understands their jobs, wants to help, and have their best interest in mind.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Mike, enjoy most if not all of your articles! In my heart, I agree with you totally. However, my experience has resulted in a couple of instances when the next time, there was a need, for a wrench, to be turned, under the tank, in the mud . . . everyone stood around and waited for me (the officer) to jump under there again. Any specific suggestions on how to manage “contributing” when there is a legitimate need and “leading” when there isn’t?
I continue to be surprised by this type of interaction in the military. When I was an Armor LT my bridade commander knew me by my boots for the first three or four encounters for exactly this same reason. All he saw were the boots since I was heads down inside or under the tanks with the troops. All my military training was directed this way, not the “I’m too important to get dirty” attitude. This senior officer is the exception, not the standard.
LTC, USA, RET.
Wow, almost the same story spread through out my Army Reserve brigade a few years back. I was a senior captain commanding an Armor Training Committee which had all the division’s master gunners, combat seasoned Armor NCOs from Desert Storm, etc, so it was a very elite unit I was fortunate enough to lead. After a weekend’s drill in the field, our M60s (yes, we still hadn’t received M1A1s) were covered in mud and needed to be completely cleaned at the washracks before we could sign them back in at the equipment storage site. I was completed with all of my weekend’s duties so I first jumped in and helped my driver clean out my truck and when we were finished with that, we went down the line helping clean the tanks. As you know Mike, that means climbing under the tank with a high pressure hose to get mud off the insides of track and the bottom of the tank. Some of my more junior officers were standing off to the side “smoking and joking” and wondering why their commander was getting so muddy as “that’s not what officers do”. They just didn’t get it. As my philosophy is to always teach by example, I didn’t order them to jump in because I wanted to see “what they were made of”, and boy did I find out. Needless to say, like you Mike, I earned my credibility with my NCOs and junior enlisted and they didn’t. Needless to say, I did use it as a teaching point in my officer development classes in later weekends. Nice job Mike and thanks for sharing your experiences with others!
I started my career (not in the military) with this sort of attitude. However, a few years ago a colleage (higher up the chain than me) recommended that as you advance up the ladder, you stop “doing the grunt work,” even if you have the time because you can actually lose respect in some situations. I didn’t believe it until I happen to in a situation where I was doing some “entry-level work” in a situation where I was visable to customers/clients. A potential client assumed I was not in a position of authority and went over my head. However, I am a woman. Do you think the incorrect assumption was because I was “doing the work of a lesser staffer” or because I am a woman and despite the fact that it is 2011, the assumption still is that women have lesser roles in the workplace? Maybe it is more successful in the military because you have a other status symbols (ranks, ribbons on uniforms, etc) which clearly indicate that you do have authority while doing “less-authoritative” work.
@Anonymous – I think your colleague has *some* wisdom there but I wouldn’t advocate a 100% stoppage. Sure, the percentage of your time doing grunt work will decrease as your scope increases but I wouldn’t say it’s zero. I think the problem in your customer situation is they were likely unaware of your “real” rank because they didn’t know you. If they knew you and the position you occupied, I don’t think this would have happened. Sure, it’s less likely in the military because you have rank on your shoulder which tells folks “I’m an executive” whereas in business you end up being more reliant on someone’s personal knowledge of your “rank.” It is possible there was gender bias but I can’t speculate as to that. I think the potential client can’t necessarily be faulted for the assumption as the work you were doing at that moment fit there predominant construct of “a person doing clerical work is likely in a clerical role” and they were pretty safe to assume that. Now what you could have done would have been to clarify the situation. “Hi prospective customer. I know you’re asking for SVP Frank but I can actually help you. I’m VP Susan. Today I’m spending time in the front office staying fresh on the work my team members do so I can stay in touch with their ‘reality’ on a regular basis. It helps me lead them better. Why don’t you come back to my big corner office and we can have the ‘executive’ conversation you’re interested in?” You get the idea. Nothing wrong with clarifying the situation. I think they would have “gotten” it pretty quickly and doing so would have *increased* the person’s respect for you in the same way your actions were increasing the respect your team had for you. Hope that helps.
I love this post, Mike. (Especially as the sister of two soldiers– an enlisted Tank Commander and a retired “Soldier’s Officer.”)
Your story is such a great one and perfectly tells it like it is. HUA!
You want respect from your people? Don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves.
That’s a great story, and a great example of what the Shingo model is based on – Humility and respect for people. It’s not necessary to announce your rank and title, or to differentiate the work because of those things. Positional authority is the first resort of an incompetent manager, IMHO, and the last resort of a gifted one.
All that’s needed is an honest heart-felt desire to help people. If you have that, you will gain respect instantaneously, and you will also know when it is time to pitch in and get a task done, and when to stand back and require someone else to do it, so that they may learn.
Stick with that mindset, and most people will “get it” quickly enough, and will be eager to respond in kind. Those subordinates just might learn a thing or two about leadership as well, and behave accordingly when their time comes.
I suppose the simplest way to put it is just this: Pay it forward.
@David – spot on. Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing and for reading.