In French and Russian Bistros
CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character
...And beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, "I could buy this place and fire you," or "I know the owner and I could have you fired." Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power.
Whoever came up with the waiter observation "is bang spot on," says BMW North America President Tom Purves, a native of Scotland, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, who lives in New York City with his Norwegian wife, Hilde, and works for a German company. That makes him qualified to speak on different cultures, and he says the waiter theory is true everywhere.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management. Raytheon has given away 250,000 of the books.
Peter Kropotkin came up with it too. Somewhere in the anarchist prince's works he mentions that the how-they-treat-the-waiter rule was always good for picking out the police informants (and agent provocateurs) from among your fellow revolutionists. I always took it as night time rule though, and I can attest it's served me well in my moonlit dining and plotting against the empire. I see now I must also remember it for daytime brunch, lunch and cocktail dates--those sunlit headhunting expeditions for talent to run my counter-empire.