My Company offsite is NOT called a “retreat”!

My Company offsite is NOT called a “retreat”!

Every year since starting City Winery,  I have done an Company offsite with the key managers and leaders in the company and called it “Basecamp”.   Tomorrow will be the 13^th Basecamp up in the Hudson Valley where about 150 employees from all our locations will be gathering in person for the next 48 hours.   

Since I had the luxury of starting a second business, the single most important lessons from the abundant mistakes in my first company—The Knitting Factory, was the importance of the leadership team all rowing in the same direction.   I have always enjoyed mountaineering, and the word “retreat” had a repugnant connotation to me, why in the world would our new business make a big investment to bring everyone together under the banner of “retreat”.  We are not going backwards.  While a new business can feel like the front lines of a war, we are moving forwards, not any other direction.   “Basecamp” as an inspiring metaphor made so much more sense to me.  A place where the team can plan the next part of the journey to the top of the peak, to reach the summit. 

All right, so Basecamp is an examination of who we are as a company, what we want to accomplish in the next year or three.  Generally, you think of a “basecamp” in a snowy rock enclave up high in the mountains, a place where one looks at the peaks ahead waiting to be summited, a team climbing to the top.  I like that image much more than a “retreat”, the idea of just going backwards, intimidated perhaps by the enemy or the competition--but certainly not going forward.  We, however, are going forward, exploring our company’s plans, routes and strategies to get to the top. To do that, we need to know who we are, what is our company culture, our DNA.  Just reading about it in the pamphlet when gets hired is not enough.  Even discussing our corporate culture and core non-negotiable values after reading Setting the Table or Unreasonable Hospitality, is not enough.  We need to inject it into our souls together.  

I made many many many mistakes with my first company—The Knitting Factory. So many that I tried to capture them in the book I wrote as lessons and stories for Indulge Your Senses.   But I believe these mistakes were essential lessons how to be a better leader.   While The Knit turned into a legendary venue, opened before some of you were even born, I did many things wrong and learned a lot.  One of the advantages of starting a new company is looking at how you want to do things differently and learn from those errors.   I had that opportunity and biggest single change I wanted the make starting a new music venue, a new concept, a new brand, was to build a superior and engaged leadership team. 

If I am to build a big company, I can’t do it alone. It was critical for me starting City Winery, to build a strong, exceptional, and committed management group.  And very early in the development of City Winery, before we opened our second location, I produced the first Basecamp. A very primitive offsite at Minnewaska State Park.  Here we put out a white board and worked on our mission statement and discussed the difference between hospitality vs. service. And we certainly have come a long way.   But company’s go through changes, iterations and unanticipated challenges like the pandemic, but we have emerged alive, healthy, and well.  It is why this year was so important to still do it, even though our cash is tight, the investment in getting together and taking 48 hours to focus on our goals is critical.  We are very close to be in an explosive growth period and to get to where we want to go, we all need to row the boat in the same direction.  Basecamp is the place to show us the path forward.   Two weeks ago, I went back to the Mountains for inspiration.  The video is from that. 

And that is exactly what I hoping Basecamp ultimately achieves.  While we will review a lot of specifics, talk thru best practices and look at our 2025-2027 projections, etc, getting to the top of the mountain and achieving real greatness is grounded in bettering oneself along the journey. 

Yet, expeditions to the top, getting to the summit are not for everyone; but, rather for a select and elite group that have made it to this level and now plan the execution required of the target ahead.  The successful accent starts in the safety of Basecamp.   For many, Mountaineering is a team sport, you’re relying on and needing to communicate clearly with every member of the team.  If one person is dragging the rope, the weak link, it endangers the entire the team. My job, as CEO and leader of the expedition, is to safely guide us up the peak that others might not be willing to climb. To blaze a trail that other leaders didn’t see or wouldn’t consider.  What I really hope, is that both the strenuous journey to the top,  and the feeling of accomplishment reaching the summit, will create a deep sense of personal satisfaction, well-being and if possible, a balance in life learning to love what you do even more.