In a recent unveiling of Nestle Professional, formerly known as Nestle Food Service, I held a vital realization of the new group.

The event included the essentials of a usual launch with team-building activities days after. Launches and team-building activites were usual for me, and past events have become so routinely mechanical and mind-numbing monotonous.

The dinner too was usual for me. Though the grandeur of the ballroom at Vivere Suites was astounding: Fabric-covered balls of light permeated the room with subdued hues of orange and yellows; the Philharmonic Orchestra filled the ballroom with musical elegance and class; the menu was its day’s best. Nevertheless, this dinner was usual.

In the course of the Nestle Professional event however, I was blown away by the surprise it had set. The dinner was transformed into a significant gathering, if not cherishingly memorable. When all of Nestle Professional teams and personnel were eagerly waiting for dinner to be served, the business executive manager took the microphone and told us a short speech that lingered in my heart long. He shared that service can be best expressed if service starts from the top trickling down to each employee. And one by one, each manager entered the room as waiters, each dressed in classy white with black trousers and bowtie to match. Each then served the glasses and poured a sweet Nestea concoction. I saw the business unit’s heads handing over plates, waiting others to be in line first, ensuring all had eaten before they would.  I was in awe once more. Never have I imagined and never in my career that a superior humbled himself, waited on, and served his subordinates.

The business executive manager then proposed a toast. We held our glasses up high, not filled with high-grade wine but with simple sweet Nestea drink. The drink was not expensive but the experience was definitely priceless.

True leadership expresses itself when the ideals are put into examples for others to see and emulate. Cheers to that!