So, did you watch Kendall-Jackson president Rick Tigner on CBS’ “Undercover Boss” last night? Pretty good episode, right?
Now that the show’s aired, I can give you a few more details. First, Marcos, the bottling unit guy who moonlights as a DJ did DJ duties along with his son at the company viewing party of the episode on Sunday night and it went great.
Meanwhile, Renee, the truck driver with the colorful vocabulary did not get fired. As you may have seen in the show epilogue, one of the results of his being assigned to work other departments is that he came up with a better way of doing delivery paperwork. Tigner has also gone to truck driver meetings and worked on fixing issues ranging from having a drivers’ rep to simple things like getting locks repaired.
“The thing about the truth is that the truth comes to you in different ways,” Tigner said at the press screening in San Francisco. “What he said that day, he was honestly speaking from his heart. He really felt like he’s out there on his own, and there’s some things that we did need to improve.”
Savannah, the smart tasting room employee, has moved on, so that’s a little bit anti-climactic. Company officials say she left for her own reasons and they were sorry to see her go. Laura, the assistant vineyard manager who was both skilled and patient, is doing well.
Funniest moment of the show was Tigner’s “I Love Lucy” moment on the bottling line. Here’s the clip:
The show tends to focus on individuals, with the good employees being rewarded in the final segment with substantial gifts or bonuses. Which is nice, but a bit limited.
However, show officials say changes also get made company wide as a result of the undercover experience. At KJ, those changes included reinstating the company match to 401K plans and starting Spanish/English classes for employees.
“There’s been a lot of great benefits,” Tigner said.
So, there you have it. An interesting peek into the workings of a wine company.
I like this show because it highlights how so-called “glamour” careers like winemaking and hospitality ( i.e. another recent show on running a hotel)require the hard work of so many people at multiple levels. As you pointed out, the company-wide changes Rick put into place have a wider influence than individual rewards, even though the latter make the best stories!
So Rene didn’t get fired “on the show”, and he figured something out at the corporate level for them, but they didn’t say if he finally accepted the company vision of teamwork or accepted responsibility of his attitude, or made a wholehearted change in his language use! The end didn’t say whether he was reassigned to his truck or sent packing. I would say he was sent packing but they omitted to say that as it would be bad PR for Kendall Jackson!
Please KJ, please elaborate on his future prognosis with the company. It’s only fair!
To Dan C,
I found this on Kendall-Jackson’s website, according to the short videoclips it seems like Rene is back behind the wheels. From my point of view it seems that KJ has taken care of the experiences they had during the filming of Undercover Boss.
http://wow.kj.com/undercover_boss#clips
BR
Krister
Hi Krister and Dan C., thanks for stopping by. Yes, I checked with KJ and Rene is back behind the wheel. So perhaps it was a learning moment for all concerned. No word on whether he’s toned down that vocabulary …
I am dumbfounded Savannah is given a huge some of money plus a raise and medical benefits THEN leaves. (for her own personal reasons) THAT is selfishness at it worst…I bet she took the money and RAN…..to another job without medical benefits.. I would really like to know what happened to her