Walking is good for business
A HANDS-ON CHIEF EXECUTIVE takes “walking the talk” literally. The peregrinations take place around his organization, intended to observe the business firsthand and gain insights on how it is going. Walking around gives visibility to the leader as he moves around the premises, looking in charge. Strolling around the workplace allows the chief to chat with his employees (How did your root canal go?) and see how they handle customers, and whether they’re taking too many coffee breaks.
Management by walking around (MBWA) was extolled as an attribute of excellent companies in the probably now dated (1982) business bestseller, In Search of Excellence by Peters and Waterman. Some of the cited excellent companies in that book have gone under.
In an interview by a fellow mogul hosting a banking program over the net, one conglomerate head and retail tycoon admits to occasionally dropping in on his retail outlets unannounced. He is not accompanied by a coterie of staff and security and just wanders around the store by himself to get a feel of how things are going. He observes whether customers are stacking products on their carts. He understands that the retail staff recognizes him and pretends he’s just a regular customer.
The visible leader is not to be confused with an executive who has been stripped of his corporate functions. This one too is just aimlessly wandering around. The enforced idleness consigns him to long coffee breaks and chats with the receptionist. This lost soul carries folders and memo pads around as if on the way to a meeting. Such a drifter is classified as part of the “walking wounded” already scouting for a new career outside. He is walking around just to pass the time since he no longer has an office. He is not invited to any meetings except the one involving financial management workshops for retirees.
Walking around is intrinsic to some businesses.
Some micro-entrepreneurs make a living by moving around. They carry their wares around and go to their customers. They weave through cars stalled in traffic to sell bottled water, corn on the cob, and boxes of grapes with no expiry dates. Mendicants too move around, peddling alleviation of guilt. These vending activities pick up during rush hours when traffic is stalled. The Economic Law on Street Vendors states: “The volume of street vendors is inversely proportional to the speed of the vehicles.”
Walking around the mall for a Sunday stroll after lunch is good for business too. Most malls have removed seats for the weary mallgoers to rest on. There is, after all, no revenue stream from a consumer who is just sitting down and reading his eBook. The pop-up stores take up all the available space. (Foot massage over here, Sir.) And if one wants to sit and rest, then he should order yogurt or bubble tea from a pop-up outlet. Seats should not be mere furniture available to the weary. Three seldom-vacant rocking chairs at the edge of the mall are there as a special promo with the phone number on how to order.
Even a political leader in power needs to walk around and be seen. It’s not enough to have photos waving at the camera at the steps of a private plane, on the way to yet another foreign country. Walking around, even in business conferences to announce foreign commitments to invest, projects visible leadership.
Walking, perhaps next to swimming, is the most aerobically appropriate form of exercise. Brisk walking brings up the heartbeat rate, especially when accompanied by decades-younger walkers smartly overtaking one and leaving a scented trail of half-an-hour-old eau de cologne, and sopping wet sweatshirts — a scent that should be bottled to fend off sniffing dogs that prowl the mall with their walkers.
As to corporate walking, it seems that going to and coming from meetings takes up the most strenuous form of mobility. So, companies now put meeting rooms together on one floor to reduce the need to take the stairs between presentations. Virtual meetings that only require staying home are becoming a thing of the past.
The most difficult walk is the one out the door with no plans of going back after lunch. Indeed, walking is good for business… especially when you know where you’re headed.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
