Undercover CEO

One of the new TV shows that I enjoy watching is Undercover CEO. Each episode follows the CEO of a company while he or she takes a week out of the corporate office to work the lowest level jobs within the company in disguise. The supervisors and co-workers are told that a TV crew is following an older worker who has lost his/her job and is starting over at the bottom of the company in an entry level job.

In each episode, the CEO finds that there are some really hard-working people doing these difficult, low-paying jobs. Each CEO has been impressed with most of the people employed by the company. In some cases, the CEO has encountered management people who have not properly portrayed the type of management philosophy the CEO wants displayed.

At the end of every episode the CEO has the employees come to the corporate office where the CEO’s true identity is revealed. To the good, hard working employees, the CEO gives them something to show his gratitude for their hard work. The supervisors that have not been good representatives of the company have been chastised by the CEO and in at least one case, a supervisor was told to change or leave the company.

As a student of management, I like watching the show. Most of the CEOs are terrible at manual labor. I appreciate CEOs who are willing to leave the corporate office to see what really goes on their companies. Southwest Airlines’ former CEO Herb Kelleher did not need a TV show to encourage him to get out and mingle with the employees. He was renowned for showing up at an airport to throw bags with the baggage handlers or work at the ticket counter. While there, he not only understood the work the employees were doing but also engaged them in conversation. Sam Walton routinely drove his pickup truck to Walmart stores to see first-hand what was going in the stores. Harley Davidson requires its executives to go to motorcycle rallies to spend the weekend with HD customers, talking to them about their bikes.

The only way to know what is going on is get out of the office and go see how the work gets done. The Japanese term is “gemba”, which means the real place. Japanese managers are known for spending a great deal of time on the production floor. They want to see what is going on in their businesses.

Jesus came down from His “office” to see what living in this world was really like. He took the lowest level job in the universe, that of servant. He then took the job that no one else could do. He became the sacrifice for sin – not His sins, but our sins. We should have to die for our sins, but He became the sinless sacrifice for our sins.

As we enter this Easter season, carefully consider the sacrifice that Christ made to set you free of sin and to make you a candidate for heaven.