At the end of my first day leading a facility identified for closure, I borrowed some blue work clothes and asked Lloyd, a mechanic, to bring the hydro blaster to the very back of the plant.

“What are we doing here?” Lloyd asked.

“Lloyd, we can’t make quality products in a shithole, and this place is a shithole. So it’s going to get cleaned up, starting right here, at the farthest point back. It won’t stop until it reaches the front gate.”

Fifteen minutes in, I was soaked and worn out in the Florida heat. Then the machine went quiet. There stood Lloyd, grinning, holding out a huge cup of Gatorade. “Take a break. Let me take over.” For the next two hours, other employees kept drifting back to take a turn. Nobody asked them. They just showed up.

Cleaning didn’t turn the facility around. But no other general manager in the company would be caught dead running a hydro blaster, and by the next morning everyone knew there was a new sheriff in town.

One caution: the hydro blaster was a one-time demonstration, made to make an impact. What makes the difference after that is walking the walk, every day.

Your turn: What’s your hydro blaster? Tell us in the comments.