Dre tells how a Frito-Lay janitor named Ricardo pitched Flamin' Hot Cheetos and became a senior marketer, arguing most companies waste frontline talent by never asking for ideas. Marc Haine says leaders believe employees have hidden superpowers but rarely act on it, calling it a blind spot that costs organizations growth.
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but the synopsis of the movie is actually the inception of how Frito-Lay developed the Flamin' Hot Cheetos recipe. And it actually started from a gentleman, his name was Ricardo. He was essentially a, let's say, a hoodlum that ended up working as a janitor for Frito-Lay. And at the time, Frito-Lay wasn't doing good. And so the CEO put out a broadcast like, you know, bring your ideas to the company. And so one day, Ricardo noticed that his son was eating like some hot corn and that he liked the spice, which inspired him to bring the Hot Cheeto recipe to the CEO. And the CEO ended up implementing his idea. And he went from the janitor to the director of multicultural marketing for a global brand. And so I think today employers do not solicit ideas from their workforce enough. And that's one way that you have transformational hiring by putting the people that you employ back in the driver's seat and giving them an opportunity and saying, hey, what are some ideas that you think could bring our organization to the forefront that you have? And give them an actual seat at the table. That's one way when I think transformational hiring.
I just got goosebumps, Dre, because I've been saying it forever that when I talk at leadership conferences, I'll ask a question. How many of you in the audience feel that you have more talent in your workforce than their job description allows? And it's amazing how many hands go up. But then, when I say, how many of you are actually tapping into that talent? The hands go down. And so, it's so funny that we hire people into a job description because we have an immediate need. But once we have this human being now in this position, we're not doing enough to tap into what their superpowers
