Culture in the Cold and Damp: What a Toronto Parking Garage Taught Me About Leadership

We’ve all received them. The automated, well-intentioned, slightly sterile “Customer Satisfaction” email that lands in our inbox the moment we drop off a rental car. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, we delete or ignore it.

This week, I broke my own rule.

After flying in and out of Toronto Pearson and returning my latest rental, I hit reply to a manager named Shirley. Because when you witness genuine professionalism in the unlikeliest of places, it demands a nod.

Here is what I wrote:

Hi Shirley,

I seldom respond to these “Customer Satisfaction” type emails. But I did want to say something.

I fly in and out of Pearson every couple of months on business and family trips.

And I have never once had a bad experience with your T3 team. Each one has been friendly, personable, professional, and super helpful.

I mentioned this several times to others during my recent rental, because it seems like a miserable place to work. A cold, damp, wet, dark, crappy parking garage is arguably the least compelling place on the planet to work, and that is saying something, as I served 22 years in the Canadian Army as an infantry soldier and then another 1 year doing disaster response for the Red Cross.

And your people are still always pleasant and nice. I, for one, would be hard-pressed to be so.

Congratulations on building a team like that.

Take care, Steve A

The Real Test of Leadership

It’s easy to lead when the sun is shining, the P&L is in the green, and the corporate headquarters are stocked with artisanal coffee and natural light. Culture looks great on a polished slide deck when everyone is comfortable.

The real test of an organization’s health isn’t found in the boardroom—it’s found in the trenches. Or, in this case, a bleak, freezing Terminal 3 parking garage at Pearson International.

When your daily working environment is subterranean, damp, echoing with exhaust fumes, and perpetually high-stress, attitude is the first casualty. Burnout creeps in. Cynicism takes root. Customers become transactions rather than people.

Yet, shift after shift, this team shows up with warmth, professionalism, and genuine care.

Why Does Culture Stick?

When I look at teams that thrive under difficult conditions—whether in uniform, in disaster relief zones, or on the front lines of corporate service—it always boils down to a few fundamental truths:

1. Local Leadership Matters Most: Shirley didn’t build that resilience from a corporate ivory tower. She built it on the floor, through consistent reinforcement, psychological safety, and making people feel valued when no one else is watching.

2. Dignity Precedes Performance: People don’t project positivity in miserable environments unless they feel their leadership respects them. When frontline staff know their leaders have their backs, they have the emotional bandwidth to extend grace to strangers.

3. Attitude is Contagious: Negativity spreads fast in confined spaces, but so does pride. When a team takes collective pride in doing a hard job well—even a thankless one—it creates an internal armour against the gloom.

We spend a lot of time in executive education talking about high-level strategy, organizational frameworks, and cultural transformation blueprints. But sometimes, the best masterclass in leadership is simply walking into a dreary basement garage and watching a group of professionals treat people with absolute kindness.

To Shirley and the National team at T3: Thanks for setting the bar.

What environment is your team operating in right now? How are you building resilience when the conditions aren’t ideal? I’d love to hear your thoughts