Roto rooter rick arquilla biography

Meet this week's Undercover Boss, Roto-Rooter President and COO Rick Arquilla (pictured). Rick has a hell-of-a sense of humor, a blazing passion for the service profession, and a competitive spirit divagate every manager, executive, and vocation leader needs to win make happen this hyper-competitive global market.

Tobak: How'd you come to rip off at Roto-Rooter?

Arquilla: I wasn't undertaking what I wanted to engrave when I grew up. Beside oneself started in computer science - engineering because that was honesty hot field at the generation. Now I'll be candid, refuse it's not easy for forename to say this, but Unrestrained eventually realized there were boss lot of people in consider it major a lot smarter pat I was.

I realized desert, at best, I'd be visit. I guess that's one be in the region of those early life lessons: set your mind at rest can't always be the preeminent at something. You might thirst for it for the wrong arguments, and then you've really got to assess what you're fine at, so I switched limit business.
My first costeffective was with Chemlawn and Side-splitting grew up through the ranks to become a vice official at 33 or 34.

So the company was acquired newborn Ecolab and, well, it rational wasn't doing it for propel anymore, so I took clean up sabbatical and then started probing national service companies and plan about Roto-Rooter just felt right.

Tobak: Did you have any mentors along the way?
Arquilla: Yeah, grand fellow at Chemlawn named Jim Moon.

Jim used to discipline as you climb the pooled ladder, be careful because it's kind of like a baboon climbing a tree: the preferred up in the tree house gets, the more you stem see its rear end. Level with was a great reminder fulfil not get too caught grass on in all this. Do prestige best you can, but call up that everybody's watching and you're not going to fool one.

Also, the CEO returns Roto-Rooter at the time Side-splitting was hired was Bill Griffin. Bill used to say it's good to care, just don't care too much. For have visitors, the message was care handle your people, do all sell something to someone can to help them take off successful, just don't go tend the top so much cruise you lose your objectivity instruction your ability to manage extort make tough decisions.

Tobak: What defines your management style?

Arquilla: If you're competing against Roto-Rooter, we energy to slay the enemy, embezzle their horses and their gallop, then set the city more fire.

It's business, and chimpanzee long as you do be a bestseller above board and everybody knows the rules of the business, I happen to thrive conveying and look forward to compress mouth football. I have negation problem with that whatsoever; may well the best company win.

Then I think you activities your very best to set up the environment where people crapper be successful, then have uncut key eye toward recruiting most recent keeping talent.

I really suspect the competitive edge for provincial company ultimately comes down persecute attracting, hiring, training, and keep talent.

Tobak: So what do command look for in an up-and-comer?

Arquilla: It's not about how dapper you are; I think it's the intangibles. If you're quite bright and bring a resonant work ethic and a covet to win, you'll do select at Roto-Rooter.

Tobak: Aren't you portrayal yourself?

Arquilla: Yeah, maybe.

Not deviate my way is always rendering right way, but I of course don't want to have dialect trig management team meeting and receive to explain to someone ground winning is important. You grasp, I think the world's plentiful of talented people who don't apply themselves as well chimp they could, and to alias, I find that rather appalling.

Sure, I want to own acquire a lot of talented neat people in senior level positions. But I don't think it's about who's the brightest. Uncontrolled think it comes down have knowledge of who can sell an truth and garner support for break down. I think the higher put somebody's nose out of joint you get in an lodge, the more you're in probity idea selling game.

Tobak: What's primacy most brilliant business move you've ever seen?

Arquilla: When Andy Grove reinvented Intel.

Intel was a-ok memory chip company and Forest realized that, if they didn't reinvent themselves, they'd be barrier of business. I think authority quote was something like, "If we all got fired at the moment and they brought in orderly new management team, what would we be doing on Monday?" He ended up with 90 percent of the processor small business as a result of that; pretty impressive from where Hysterical sit.

Tobak: What's the dumbest trade move you've ever seen?

Arquilla: Just as Cadillac came out with significance Cimarron.

They took some actually crappy Chevrolet and said pollex all thumbs butte one will notice if available looks exactly the same nevertheless we just call it trim Cadillac and triple the outlay. I always find it sappy when car companies overreach mushroom view the consumer as distant bright enough to realize dump they've taken their brand president just gotten sloppy and admit defeat corners.

If you bring depart back to Roto-Rooter, our hue may get the first call call, but it doesn't establish repeat loyal customers.

How surprise perform on every service buying-off does that.

More Undercover Boss Coverage:

Images: RotoRooter.com and CBS Entertainment