4 ms·
It's a nice gesture, but this sort of ear-to-the-ground work is something that everyone over a VP level should be doing in such a high-touch customer-facing bus
by tiedieconderoga 4y ago
It's a nice gesture, but this sort of ear-to-the-ground work is something that everyone over a VP level should be doing in such a high-touch customer-facing business.
When it's just the CEO for one day a month...it's like when you see a frontpage news article declaring that your governor recently undertook a choreographed ride on the local subway to better understand their constituents' public transit concerns. Instead of making them seem relatable and trustworthy, it highlights how grossly out of touch they are.
- gwbas1c 4y agoOne shift a month means that the CEO will have a much better feel for the customer environment and not be disconnected. I hope he rotates through a few different stores, though. Otherwise, he may become myopic to the quirks of one particular location.
- palijer 4y agoOnce when I was working our incoming phone support a tech accidentally added our CEO's office number to the round robin system for incoming support calls. CEO fielded 4 calls before he figured out what happened. No idea if he solved the problems or not. I kinda dreamt since that day that any product managers would work some time taking support calls for their products and it'd be a better world because they'd realise all the issues we've been raising about their product are real.... But instead we were just lowly support folks who didn't know about product development and they continued to be "agile"
- blululu 4y agoA little bit of knowledge can be less than useless. It gives the impression of understanding while passing over the harsher realities. The way that such a move is enacted matters. Is this shift scheduled on a random Saturday/Sunday with ~48 hours notice. Does the shift last 8 hours? Does his replacement randomly show up 30 minutes late and he needs to work an extra 30 minutes with zero notice? Does he need to open the shop bright and early after closing the night before? If the CEO is insulated from these rather common experiences then the exercise masks the problems with a veneer of understanding.
- isk517 4y agoYou make a good point. Probably better to just work a full two weeks at a location once a year than 1 day a month.
- darth_avocado 4y agoI’d like to see them work a month on worker pay, with no access to outside funds, house or car. Get some real empathy going.
- paxys 4y agoThis is pretty common industry wide. Executives who are actually serious about it will do it silently and without a PR campaign.