08/21/2026
Today I spent the day with a bucket and mop in hand and scrubbed until my hands are raw.
I hold a leadership role within my company but next week we have some very important guests visiting our facilities.
To be fair, our facilities are already some of the cleanest I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of facilities, but in industrial waste and water management, there is always something to clean, tighten up, improve, or prepare. And when it matters, you do what needs done.
I believe deeply in servant leadership. Over the last 15+ years in the oilfield, I have worked my butt off to earn a seat in upper management. But I have never believed that a title makes me too important to grab a mop, climb in a truck, jump in a pit, or stand beside my team through the long, dirty, exhausting hours it takes to get the job done. There isn’t a single thing I would ask someone on my team to do that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.
Because leadership is not sitting above people. Leadership is setting the standard beside them.
There was a time in my life when cleaning floors was my actual job. And while I knew then that it wasn’t where I wanted to stay, I never forgot what it taught me: work hard, ask questions, learn more, show up, stay humble, and earn your way forward.
I may have a leadership title now, but at heart I am still that blue-collar girl who grew up in a trailer park in Washington County, PA, and I hope I never lose her.
Because if serving is beneath you, leadership is beyond you. And today, the mop reminded me exactly who I am.
-Jennifer McIntyre
