Drive. Align. Shift. Spirit Driving Institute Blog

Review of Undercover Boss

On Friday I watched the first episode of the new show Undercover Boss. For those that haven't seen it, it's about high-level executives anonymously taking on the role of the worker bee within their company. Friday's show followed the COO of Waste Management, Larry O'Donnell. One employee's story was particularly moving.

In this episode, Larry's first task was to pick up trash on a windy hillside. The employee that was helping him told him that he should be able to fill three bags in 10 minutes. Larry had difficulty filling up even one bag and realized how hard the task was.

During lunch, Larry had a chance to talk with the employee about his life. He found out that he had a medical condition that should have made it difficult for him to be as productive picking up trash. Larry asked how he was able to work so hard. He responded with (and I'm paraphrasing here):

It's my body that has that condition. I don't let my body tell me what to do. Instead, I listen to my Spirit.

What a great (and unexpected) message. We all have challenges in our personal and professional lives. It was nice to see someone doing a self-proclaimed "not-rocket-science" job that understood his current role in life. He took his job seriously and did the best that he could, in spite of his condition.

What adversity have you had to overcome in your professional life in order to succeed?

Note: I'll update this with the employee's name and other details soon. For some reason, the CBS site won't load the video.