I was driving through Plant City today and saw Mexican workers burning the plastic in the strawberry fields, getting ready to till the soil for the next harvest of fruits and vegetables.
I have always been quietly impressed with the Mexican work ethic. These laborers — and yes they really do labor — keep the engine going in construction, landscaping, farming, and many other industries. I have seen them at the Montessori job sites over the years, laying foundations, building roofs and doing almost all of the wood framing. Most of the time they do their work in 95 degrees heat.
The takeaway? The people who work behind the scenes in most companies help pad corporate profits and make things cheaper for us at the store. The real irony is that sometimes the people who make the greatest difference in a company are also the lowest paid, and the least appreciated. We need to collectively make an effort to reward and recognize those people who make the greatest difference. I think it would make us better managers, and certainly better human beings.
About Hemant Rustogi