Even my Janitor knows better

Every morning when I enter the office, I’m usually greeted with a chirpy ‘Good morning to you, sir’ by the janitor. He has been with us for 3 years now and knows our 40-member team so well, that he’ll be able to get you your tea or coffee just the way you like it.

A leader without humility is like a dinosaur – everyone sees it, everyone’s afraid of it but everyone’s happy that it’s extinct.

That morning as I walked in, I saw my janitor wiping the conference room door with a scowl on his face. I wished him a good morning. The always-pleasant janitor did not respond. I knew something was wrong. I assumed the new Office Manager might have ticked him off. As it turned out, I was dead wrong with my assumption.

“What do they teach people in school, sir?”, he asked.

“You’ve been to school. You know it, don’t you?”, I replied.

“I used to go to a school that had no electricity, water or even a teacher. Yes, I went to school but I was never taught anything there.”

He continued in the same tone, “You’ve gone to a school that teaches a lot of things. In the city. What do they teach?”

I was suddenly stumbling for a short, concise answer. I wasn’t sure I wanted to re-live every single day of my schooling when my parents would ask when I go home, “What did they teach you at school today?”. I can’t tell the janitor, “If you didn’t know what they taught, why did you put me there?”.

Keeping in mind that brevity was essential, I said “Various subjects – from art and literature to science and geography. History, economic, commerce. Almost everything.”

“And after school?”, he asked.

“I took up commerce and management.” I was extremely crunched for time but I was very curious where this conversation was heading.

“I assume all other officers here have been to school. So, during this entire time of being educated, when do they teach you how to use the wash-room?”

I was truly stumped. One can never put a finger on the potty-training timeline. One never remembers. I gave him a confused look and went “Excuse me?”. I was neither confused nor did I not hear him. I just did not know how to respond.

“When in school do they teach you to not pee on the floor or not try and flush the entire toilet paper roll or never leave the water running? Science, conserving the environment and all that $#!& should have taught them this, right? Do they ever teach these things in school?”

“In some cases, yes. But generally, no. These are things our up-bringing teaches us. Society, to an extent. Parents, largely.”

“In which part of their up-bringing are they taught to respect what someone else does? I learnt this on the streets as a five year old. Looks like the education system failed. I wonder if they are too old to be taught respect, humility and courtesy. A leader without these is like a dinosaur – everyone sees it, everyone’s afraid of it but everyone’s happy that it’s extinct.”

While I was late for my meeting, the 5-minute delay was totally worth it. As a senior Human Resources leader I spend a lot of time with very senior resources. I can say with some confidence that my janitor knows what makes a leader better than some leaders we already have.