My dad gave me a lot of advice. But between the ages of 13 and 23, I ignored far more than I took. I wasn't sure how he turned into an idiot during those years and don't remember exactly what age I was when I figured out he was a genius.

Not unlike a lot of sons and daughters, maybe? The quote above is one I've always remembered and tried to practice to the best of my ability.

In the three decades that he's been gone, I've often had the thought that it would be great to talk with him once more to ask a few questions that I just can't seem to figure out.

Instead, I continue to try to live my life so my 91 year old Mom and he are proud of me. I don't always succeed, but success and effort are two different things, and I like to think I always try.

Today's story is still vivid in my mind and nose, and when I told him about it, he simply said: "take care of your people, and they will take care of you."

Downtown Boston was not always the vibrant, polished, commercial, financial, and retail center it is today. In fact, when I graduated from school, it was fairly run-down, with lots of boarded up store fronts, petty crime, vagabonds, and despair. 

Into that environment my employer, a fast-food franchisee, decided to open a new store in what is now called Downtown Crossing, but back then was simply a location across from the Old South Meeting House on Washington Street. (At one time the largest building in Boston and where much of the fuel that inspired the American Revolution was developed.)

Surrounded by those boarded-up store fronts mentioned earlier, and next to a 125-year-old jewelry store, on the ground floor of a mostly empty 8-story building, I was the opening manager for one of the handful of urban franchises in the country.

Since there were so few of these types of locations, (the parent company historically had avoided them), there wasn’t really a book on how to handle a lot of things, including the ‘rush’ at noon time for office denizens (always wanted to use that word-'denizens') who wanted to visit not only the newest but the best(?) restaurant at that end of the street.

Another aspect of working there that didn't include a manual, was handling the lowlifes that regularly visited the location.

What’s a lowlife you ask? The two cornerstones of lowlife society were the pickpockets and till-tappers.

A Pickpocket is someone who jostles you and walks away with your wallet, whether it was in your purse or your pocket. They work best in crowds, and the crowded lines of a fast-food downtown restaurant were very attractive to them. 

It sounds silly when I say this now, but when any of the management team recognized a pickpocket in the waiting line, working the crowd, so to speak, one of them would shout, literally shout: “There is a pickpocket in the store, please protect your wallet.” The lowlife would leave. To this day, if I am walking in a downtown location, any city, I move my wallet to a front pocket-much harder to get.

A Till Tapper is someone who has studied the location of the button that opens the register and when no one is looking, hits the button to open the cash drawer and then grabs the $20 bills and runs. Yeah, really. 

Less frequent, but no less exciting. If we saw it happening we would slam the cash drawer on their fingers, they would usually wriggle out and run. 

But one time, as a former soccer player, I kicked a drawer shut reflexively when I saw this happen while I was standing behind the counter. 

We actually kept the cash drawer clamped on the guy's hand until the police arrived. Broke his hand in four places the paramedic estimated. He screamed a lot, but he didn’t come back.

So, it was this rough and tumble urban world that I walked into one morning when one of the crewmembers stopped me before I could get inside and asked me to come with him to the men’s room. 

I opened the door and quickly shut it again. Someone had used the sink, instead of the toilet, to do their business, and I’m not talking a liquid deposit, but a more substantial type of body waste. Additionally, the individual got creative and smeared this particular brown substance all over the walls, mirrors, and partitions. They must have been saving up for this art installation.

I briefly looked at the employees who were on the clock, and quickly realized there was no one I didn’t like enough to send in there. I knew that I had to do it myself, so I asked the kid who was with me to grab some bleach from the back and another kid to hook up the hose we used to clean the alley behind the store.

With the door open just enough to fit the hose through, I started spraying water and splashing bleach until all the 'artwork' was dissolved down the floor drain, about 30 minutes worth of spraying and splashing. I’m sure I held my nose when I could.

I finished up with a mop and bucket and went to resume ‘normal’ duties. To this day, that day was one of the best I’ve ever had on any job as a leader. Everyone was upbeat, volunteering to stay or help or get something for me.

Attitudes and performance were fantastic. When I went to pour a coffee for myself after the rush, I was shooed away with the message, ‘we’ll bring your coffee to you, go relax.’

I’ve always been glad that I did it, and not just because the next four times it happened, there was a line of crewmembers who willingly took on the challenge.

I was glad I did it because it was an early time where my personal belief in the importance of leading by example was tested, and I passed.

Leading by example is easier said than done sometimes, but nothing impacts your credibility or followers more. 

As some of you know, I am a cliché machine and the one that was tested in this situation was:

That phrase is probably not something found in management books, because it isn’t really a management concept, it is more of a personal motto. And, of course, I’ve asked people with expertise beyond my own to do things, that’s not what I’m talking about. I will hire an electrician or defer to a technical expert with the best of them. 

I’m talking about those tasks or responsibilities where leaders and followers are involved.

If you think about it, leadership by example may be exactly how YOU rate whoever is leading you, because if you were to confess your personal, private opinion about that person or that leadership team, it generally starts with your assessment of how well they lead by example or their level of hypocrisy. Raise your hand if you like working for a hypocrite?

The recent pandemic has highlighted Governors, Mayors and Senators who said one thing and did another. Not good for the image, not good for credibility, not good leadership. 

Sh*t happens. Leading by example might be the best leadership style of them all. 

The more ‘artwork’, the more important the example.

The good feeling from that day lasted a long time and word on the street, literally on the street, was that it was a good place to work. During a time period where many restaurants struggled to get enough staff, that location did not.

Even if the staff had trouble spelling.

In fact, during the annual inspection by the franchisor, the location exceeded standards significantly and was selected the National Store of the Year.

I'm Lovin' It.

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