Would my team follow me like Sam Altman?

Thanksgiving Morning

Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll.  I’m sitting here this morning wondering if I got ousted from City Winery by the Board of Directors, would our 1500 employees in the company sign a letter willing to leave the company and join me to go work at the new Google Live Music Division (if they god-forbid created this and then hired me).

I wonder.  Was it loyalty, money, or just a master checkmate move done by team Open AI, in fact, did they ask ChatGPT in advance how it would turn out?  Pretty brilliant stuff, fascinating corporate drama to distract us from the rest of the crap in the world.  But I keep coming back to me, me me.    Did Sam endear his team because they were deeply loyal to him, a founder and inspiring leader, or because of a selfish rationale of following the money of a good paying job???

I try and be a good leader.  My Grandfather and then my father as leaders of the family business in Milwaukee had a tradition of giving away a turkey to their staff for Thanksgiving.  A part of their culture at Milwaukee Biscuit Company that started post-Depression era and helped them grow a loyal employee base over decades.  I have followed that tradition since starting City Winery and purchased almost 1000 turkey’s this year for our employees.  Unlike my Dad or Grandfather, I’m asking them to electronically send a photo and describe the preparation of the big bird, and then we have an internal competition for most interesting culinary prep to win a trip somewhere.  I am trying to make it fun and engaging, but yes, it’s trying to create a loyal team who would follow me anywhere. But would they?  Is the turkey trick enough?

Obviously not.  It is also about the other 364 days in the year, what else are we doing to create a workplace that is exciting, inspiring, engaging, and helping each and every person grow (and make money).  We do our best with developing a cool culture like the “enDORFin” program, providing $300 a year to all employees to spend on programs that make them more healthy that our expensive healthcare does not provide (which by the way increased almost 25% AGAIN this year, that is another article).    Any employee can spend that on yoga classes, towards gym memberships, new Hoka running shoes, whatever they want as long as they explain how it gets their endorphins moving.   Nice Perk I think.  We are trying.  But is it enough??  Would everyone have signed a letter and quit if I got ousted?  This is the question.

I am sure a couple of them would sign the letter if I really asked.  We got thru the pandemic together and while it felt like we survived our own personal Vietnam battle, was the trenches of our work from home enough to create a deep bond with everyone?  I mean, Sam got almost 100% of his employees to go along.  Unfortunately, I know a whole bunch of younger staff are mad at the Company today because we have had some events supporting victims of the Israeli Massacre on Oct. 7^th.  There are a bunch of staff not thrilled with the New York State policy of 80/20 which forces us to keep some excellent servers unable to work private functions.  Post Pandemic, general work ethic has changed.  I’ve had bar tenders ask me if they could work from home one day a week like their friends.  When asked how they would bartend from home, they said it would be cocktail research or learning more about wine……Sorry, no go.  It’s a different world today than my grandfather or Father.  Labor has become more expensive, more challenging, and it seems no matter how much we give, it is not enough.  Labor % against sales is at an all-time high in our industry, almost to a point of unsustainability.  But we make a go of it every day in the hospitality entertainment world.

So here we are, Thanksgiving, the bird is going in the oven in a few hours, and I am wondering who would follow me if I got ousted?  I know it’s a different industry, but it’s an interesting question and I wanted to crank out another Substack while the Turkey is brining.  But it is a serious question that I ponder every day, how much more can I do as the Founder, CEO, and leader of our Company to endear that level of loyalty and still be profitable.    Nevertheless, I remain grateful that I am not being ousted, that I have a loyal board and I believe an incredible team that people who more or less believe in our Company’s mission and goals.  I really am grateful. But I would not be honest if I also didn’t have the paranoid question deep down, would they follow me like Sam Altman?