Contact Robert Thirkell by email (robert.thirkell@bbc.co.uk), or visit Back to the Floor on the Web (www.bbc.co.uk/education/work).

Sidebar: Lessons From the Line

More than 50 CEOs and other execs have gone back to the floor with Robert Thirkell. What did they learn?

"It taught me humility," says Gillian duCharme, who was head of exclusive boarding school Benenden when Thirkell sent her to teach unruly children at Forest Gate Community School in East London. "I thought I could teach anyone, but I couldn't control those kids. I had to learn a new set of methods." In 2000, duCharme quit to become an education consultant but still keeps in touch with those she met at Forest Gate.

Tom Riall, who previously served as managing director of waste-disposal company Onyx UK, spent a week collecting garbage and learned the power of seeing problems with his own eyes. "You can be briefed about an issue by your managers for years," he says. "But until you experience it for yourself, you don't really understand it. I found that there were constant mistakes with our overtime payments and that our fleet of vehicles was unreliable." Riall continued to go back to the floor after the cameras disappeared. Currently a managing director at security firm Reliance, he is itching for Thirkell to give him another go.

During his week as a paramedic in Glasgow, Adrian Lucas, CEO of the Scottish Ambulance Service, learned that small issues are as important as big ones are: "The smaller issues can become major bones of contention -- such as being slow to award paramedics their badges after they've gone through training. It reminded me that I'm here to serve those who serve others."