On the Floor

I have had people work for me for thirty years. I have also watched founders burn through talent like it is renewable. The difference is almost always the same thing.

They did not build a place anyone would want to work.

This sounds obvious. It is apparently not, because I see it everywhere. Founders who are brilliant at the product and completely indifferent to the human beings making it. They wonder why no one stays.

Here is what I know. Pressure is a privilege. I am the last one to get paid. I am up at 3:30. I am drained a lot of days. I am also genuinely grateful to be here. And that combination, the weight and the gratitude together, that is what I try to model.

If you walk into a room and the energy is bad, that is on you. If your best people are leaving, that is on you. If nobody tells you what is actually wrong, that is on you too, because you built a place where honesty is not safe.

I learned most of this watching my father. He is a craftsman. He cares about the work and the people doing it. He did not build a culture document. He built a shop where people wanted to show up.

The tactics are whatever. One-on-ones. Clear expectations. Pay people what they are worth. None of it works if the thing underneath is hollow.

Run the shop you would want to work in. It is the simplest thing I know and still the hardest to actually do.