Eight-Year War for Water

Soon after some gut-wrenching right-sizing of the organization, I met with my supervisor, who was the chief financial officer. The painful elimination of layers of management freed up millions of dollars in recurring savings, which were redirected to the first-ever capital budget. We also saved more than six million dollars when replacing a major mission-critical piece of equipment. When he suggested that I should no longer expense bottled water or coffee for my office, I laughed because I thought he was joking. He was dead serious. This small expense was deemed too excessive. My office was located in a building built in 1962, so there were concerns about the quality of the water due to the lead pipes. So, for the next eight years, I paid for and personally delivered the bottled water and coffee for the staff, customers, and strategic vendor partners who came to meet with me.

You don’t always win, but you have to try. The war for water escalated over the years. He wanted me to stop expensing the $700 monthly water service for the rest of my staff. About 330 employees in the organization were officed in buildings built in 1932, 1951, 1960, and 1962. The tap water in the 1951 building was cloudy and contained floating rust-colored particles. The CFO also had staff in the 1932 building, but his other direct report, Frank, established a water club for his team. Staff had to pay into the water club account to be able to drink safe, purified water. Instead of paying for monthly water service for their staff, Frank wanted to bring my department down to his miserly level of staff support to make it “fair.”

I deflected multiple requests from the CFO to cut this cost and intentionally dragged my feet for eight years. We fought this stupid water war until the next CFO finally squashed approval of the water funding out of spite. My last expense request had this justification: “This is a health-related expense, especially in the legacy buildings. Denial of this small, health-related benefit will be seen by staff as mean-spirited and would further reduce employee morale, especially in light of many years with no salary increases. Also, productivity will be lost as 330 staff will need to leave the workplace to purchase their own safe-to-drink water.” My heartfelt request was summarily denied.

At my retirement party, my staff presented me with a water cooler and a jug of purified water to memorialize this eight-year internecine water war, and we all had a good laugh. Later, filtered water fountains were installed in some—but not all—of the buildings.

As the leader of your organization, you are responsible for creating a safe work ecosystem, and although I didn’t win the multiyear water crusade, my team knew I was fighting for them. That increased trust and showed them that I genuinely valued them and their health. Demonstrate that you truly care for your employees above yourself.

When I retired, Susan said, “You showed up at an interesting time, full of upheaval, and it’s true that I didn’t think much of the ‘new administration’ when you arrived. The years that followed showed me differently, and I’ve come to understand that you care about this place and the people as much or more than anyone around here.”