I have held this story for several months. I am going to share the story of a young man that applied for a part-time job at C3 last summer that had all the signs of a potential leader. Let's call him Larry.  One of our core values is ownership. I look for this quality in our applicants. Are they reliable, dependable, trustworthy? This is the foundation of the second core value of excellence. If they take ownership, they will work with excellence. The final core value is safety. If they are a person who takes ownership and works with excellence, they will not let safety slip. I look for this and have a strict filtering process for C3 hiring. It's obvious when an applicant is lazy or not willing to work. My dad was the hardest worker in his gas utility crew. But there was a guy named Hector that always managed to do the least amount to not get fired. He never pulled his weight. Others in the crew including my dad had to do his work. Hector was overweight and lazy. No one liked Hector, but Hector was just fine because he had a cushy job that paid well and others did his work. By the way, that guy managed to retire from the utility company. It's incredible that the leadership of this company allowed 'Hectors' to survive. They kill morale. It's obvious when a Hector shows up in your applicant pool. They stand out.  But what about the other extreme?

 Larry applied to C3 and completed all of the steps to earn an interview. He was enthusiastic about cleaning. He has been working in cleaning for years part-time with his family. He was passionate about our company's mission and values. He was off-the-charts ambitious. He had young kids and had big goals and dreams. He listened to several of my podcasts and was excited to work for me and get mentored. He wanted to grow his own cleaning company. Larry had an aura around him that rang the bell I was looking for. As quoted in one of my favorite movies of all time (you can guess it)... "That brings us to Larry. Oh yeah. I had to chance to speak with Larry today. That guy is a straight-shooter with upper management written all over him." I saw the potential in him to not just become a cleaning team member. I saw him rising quickly to become my first supervising team leader. I saw him rising beyond that to join the leadership team I will build. I saw all kinds of potential. Have you ever met a Larry? He stands out just as much!


Read the rest of this article at the Smart Cleaning School website