We hear it all the time in our focus groups. “If I were in charge . . .” or “If only management would . . .” Phrases that suggest that ordinary employees (or managers or even Vice Presidents) have little power to change things in a company.

Contrast that attitude with a story from the October 1, 2007 New York Times “The Everyman who Exposed Tainted Toothpaste.” Eduardo Arias really is an everyman. This 51 year old lives in Panama City, Panama. He is a mid level government employee. He lives alone and does not own a car, let alone have access to newspapers or the airwaves.

Eduardo read a label on a tube of toothpaste for sale—and saw that it contained diethylene glycol. Many Panamanians had died taking cough syrup with diethylene glycol—so the ingredient and its negative connotations were well known to Mr. Arias.

But this is what is—sadly—remarkable. He bought a tube, and took it to a government health office. Who told him to go to another office. And another. He persisted. And—equally remarkably—somebody in the government office paid attention. Three days later Panama’s top health official held a news conference alerting the country—and eventually the world—of this problem.

If a working class shopper in Panama can make a difference, what does this tell the rest of us?