This is the second of two stories about my time as a Regional Director/Vice President in California.

After this Weblog originally appeared in May, a reader and an internationally recognized consultant, Tim Forrest, contacted me via a mutual friend, and asked if I could be a guest on his podcast. A link to my interview with Tim is here on YouTube, and Tim's website is here. Thanks, Tim.

We all develop our own leadership style if we are tasked with leading others. Even if we don’t have direct reports, we might have peers or friends to influence, and we develop a style, if not a reputation, that clings to us.

There is a style that you don't need to take a college course to understand, and you don't even need to read a book.

I have always found that leading by example, or at least trying hard to lead by example, is at the core of most good leadership styles. It has been my personal model, and I try very hard, every day, to lead by example.

The opposite of lead by example is hypocrisy, and that is a turn-off for almost everyone, and the quickest way to lose a team, lose respect, and lose the label ‘leader.’

There is also an expression ‘It’s hard to get in trouble with your mouth shut.’ This is a story of a time where opening my mouth, implementing a cliché and leading by example worked well in an effort to inspire others to raise standards and excel. It involves a waffle, a tuxedo, and a marching band.

After a fairly successful stint operating a group of 56 full-service restaurants in the Los Angeles-Santa Barbara-Orange County Area, I was promoted, during a reorganization, to lead a group of 68 locations representing almost $50 Million in revenue from an office in San Francisco that covered Northern California and part of Nevada. The territory included Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, and Reno, and yes, lucky me, the Napa Valley wine country.

A well known secret of multi-unit supervisors everywhere in every occupation: the first task in a new assignment is to clean things up. That might mean the finances, the inventory, the human resources, the landscaping, or the management team. It might also mean the sanitation, and in my case, for this new region, it meant all of the above.

Early on, things were so bad, that I wasn’t sure if I had been promoted or punished with the new role. There weren’t many locations in my new territory where I’d let my wife or mother use the restroom: always my standard for a clean restaurant. Insider tip: if the restrooms are clean, the kitchen is clean too. Take my word for it.

The only good part of the job was a cool office on the 24th floor of an office tower at 333 Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

Some of you may know that California has a different kind of health code. Violations are considered, or were considered then, criminal acts. That’s right, in addition to closing the restaurant for serious violations, those responsible can be put in jail. Back in LA, during my first month on the job, I actually appeared in court on behalf of a location I hadn’t visited yet, with a judge who threatened to put me in jail unless I cleaned it up. (For the curious, I was successful and didn’t serve time).

Anyway, my point is that the health departments in that state don’t mess around, and before I tackled the finances, the inventory, the human resources, the landscaping, or the management team, I had to get things cleaned up.

My plan was simple:

And that’s how I judged the restaurants. I expanded the inspection program after a few months and announced that any restaurant that earned a Green rating for the quarter, would earn a plaque for Excellence that I would present on my next visit. Of course, I published and shared the results in a Weekly Newsletter to all the stores. (‘Weekly’ is a habit I haven’t been able to break).

I didn’t realize how neglected the markets really had been until my first tour presenting the plaques. I was surprised initially that there were families showing up for the presentations, including kids skipping school. In some of the smaller towns, the newspaper showed up along with elected officials and local celebrities.

Something that I was simply doing to clean things up, turned out to activate pride and provide recognition that had been sorely missed.

Let me mention here that I wasn’t visiting the stores once in a while, I was in the field four days a week, sometimes five. I averaged more than 1,000 store visits a year when I was based in San Francisco. Divide that by 68 stores. On a typical tour, I would hop in the passenger seat with the first Regional Manager, drive around to all his or her stores, strategize on the highway between stops, and at the last store, the next RM would meet us and I would continue on the journey.

That’s right, usually I visited all 68 in a row over several days. When I couldn't tell the difference between my last visit and the current visit, I knew I was back too soon, and delayed the next trip.

What was happening before my eyes was simple, the Region was getting better, and here’s an example of how the standard was raised.

This is the three steps forward, two steps back approach. Although it worked, it didn’t work as fast as I had hoped, or I was impatient. It didn’t matter, I needed something more and I found it.

After a tour of some stores in the Napa Valley I came up with an idea. At the next weekly meeting with the Regional Managers I uttered the immortal words that helped turned the tide.

I simply said, ‘My definition of a clean restaurant is one where I can eat off the floor. The first restaurant that meets that standard, that’s what I’ll do.’ 

The team buzzed. And the questions started. Off the floor? With or without a plate? When? I announced that on the next tour of 68, whichever restaurant was the cleanest would earn the reward of having me come in and eat off the floor during regular business hours.

The chase was on. The number of Green stores doubled, the number of Red Stores almost dropped to zero. The winning restaurant was located in San Jose on McKee Road. Bonnie was the Manager’s name, and Bob was the Regional Manager.

I showed up on the big day wearing a white tuxedo.  Not to be outdone, the Regional Manager had hired the local high school marching band and they were playing in the parking lot when I arrived.

A reporter and photographer for the San Jose Mercury-News were on the scene for the future front page story.

I walked in, sat down next to the counter, and smiled for the cameraman who was on a ladder above the designated spot. There was a place setting ready: knife, fork, spoon, napkin, and menu. The server came over, took my order for a waffle special, with scrambled eggs with bacon, coffee and grapefruit juice, and I tried not to pass out from the adrenalin pumping through my veins.

The order came on a plate and the server pushed it off onto the tile floor. Now what. I picked up a piece of bacon. Ok, it has started. I had ordered a waffle figuring it would sit nicely on the floor and not be too messy, but I forgot about waffle syrup. With all eyes on me and spectators jostling for a better view, I lifted the small glass carafe of maple syrup (with a flourish?) and drizzled it on the waffle and watched as the syrup ran through the grout between the tiles. Oh my. Don’t try this at home.

After that breakfast, I spent more time cleaning up the other things, the finances, the inventory, the human resources, the landscaping, and the management team, because understanding the cleanliness standards was no longer a regional issue.

My standards were clear, I meant business, and I had led by example.

National recognition for the Region and for me wasn’t too far behind. When the Chairman of the Board asked me what my secret was I told him I had four: When I started the transformation, I recognized two things: Effort and Progress. Then I transitioned to recognizing two things: Progress and Results. We were now in a space where Results and Results were the two things I recognized.

He said, ‘but that’s only three.’ And I said, and ‘I try very hard, every day, to lead by example.’

Ok, it worked so well, I did it again, and then again. It became a signature move. Why not? My standards didn’t change, my philosophy didn’t change.

The photo here takes place near the University of California-Davis, in a suburb of Sacramento. I ordered a burger with fries, learning my lesson about liquids in the grout. The Regional Manager substituted a hot roast beef sandwich instead. She was not terminated, although I was not happy.

Several years later, I assumed responsibility for the Seattle Region and ended up doing it on their version of the Today show at a restaurant that had been singled out for petty violations by a rookie health inspector. No record of that exists, as far as I know.

The newspaper article below is from my time leading a franchise group in Ohio. How could I not do it?

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