Meet this week’s Undercover Boss, Roto-Rooter President and COO Rick Arquilla (pictured). Rick has a hell-of-a sense of humor, a burning passion for the service business, and a competitive spirit that every manager, executive, and business leader needs to win in this hyper-competitive global market.
Tobak: How’d you come to work at Roto-Rooter?
Arquilla: I wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I started in computer science – engineering because that was the hot field at the time. Now I’ll be candid, and it’s not easy for me to say this, but I eventually realized there were a lot of people in that major a lot smarter than I was. I realized that, at best, I’d be average. I guess that’s one of those early life lessons: you can’t always be the best at something. You might want it for the wrong reasons, and then you’ve really got to assess what you’re good at, so I switched to business.
My first job was with Chemlawn and I grew up through the ranks to become a vice president at 33 or 34. Then the company was acquired by Ecolab and, well, it just wasn’t doing it for me anymore, so I took a sabbatical and then started searching national service companies and something about Roto-Rooter just felt right.
Tobak: Did you have any mentors along the way?
Arquilla: Yeah, a fellow at Chemlawn named Jim Moon. Jim used to say as you climb the corporate ladder, be careful because it’s kind of like a baboon climbing a tree: the higher up in the tree it gets, the more you can see its rear end. It was a great reminder to not get too caught up in all this. Do the best you can, but remember that everybody’s watching and you’re not going to fool anybody.
Also, the CEO of Roto-Rooter at the time I was hired was Bill Griffin. Bill used to say it’s good to care, just don’t care too much. For me, the message was care about your people, do all you can to help them be successful, just don’t go over the top so much that you lose your objectivity and your ability to manage and make tough decisions.
Tobak: What defines your management style?
Arquilla: If you’re competing against Roto-Rooter, we want to slay the enemy, steal their horses and their food, then set the city on fire. It’s business, and as long as you do it above board and everybody knows the rules of the game, I happen to thrive on and look forward to smash mouth football. I have no problem with that whatsoever; may the best company win.
Then I think you do your very best to create the environment where people can be successful, then have a key eye toward recruiting and keeping talent. I really believe the competitive edge for any company ultimately comes down to attracting, hiring, training, and retaining talent.
from: http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=4292
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using the number/letter grid:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A B C D E F G H I
J K L M N O P Q R
S T U V W X Y Z
Where:
A = 1 J = 1 S = 1
B = 2 K = 2 T = 2
C = 3 L = 3 U = 3
D = 4 M = 4 V = 4
E = 5 N = 5 W = 5
F = 6 O = 6 X = 6
G = 7 P = 7 Y = 7
H = 8 Q = 8 Z = 8
I = 9 R = 9
Rick L. Arquilla
9 3 3 3
his true character (RL), the most important thing he can do (RU), and what he has to do/must do (RL) ALL = 93 = Making the best of a worse case scenario. Make the best of it. When life gives you lemons – make lemonade!
Rick L. Arquilla
3 1
his salvation number = LA = 31 = Competition. Challenges. Tests. Contests. Contestant. Runner-up. Competitor. Contender. Opponent. Scrimmage. Sparring. Training. Trainer.
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