Esther: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld.
Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.
Esther: And instead of doing an interview in Segment 2 this week, we're actually gonna talk about some awesome entrepreneurs, some big time CEOs who you've heard of. But what you might not have heard of is the incredible things that they do for their employees to keep them happy.
Katie: And I feel like this fits in well with you in particular Esther because you have this amazing site, NotAllCEOsAreJerks.com.
Esther: That's right.
Katie: And this is sort of what inspired me to be like we should totally do this this week because you know what, not all CEOs are jerks. (Laughter)
Esther: Absolutely; and you know what, you think about the hours you have to put in sometimes, especially if you work in the entertainment business or the newspaper business or just some kind of business where your hours aren't exactly, you know, nine to five, which is in most cases, most people's jobs are not nine to five anymore, you know, especially if their job means something to them. They end up working weekends, on their own they put in that extra time; and it's nice to see that these employers really notice that.
Katie: Exactly, and actually do something about it.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: So number one on our list, and this has been all over the news, is Oprah. And Oprah - I mean of course everyone gets excited about going to her shows, look under your seat, you know, it's a -
Esther: You get a car, you get a car!
Katie: It's a major party! (Laughter) But apparently it's just that exciting to be in her office as well to celebrate O, which of course is Oprah's magazine, their 10th anniversary. Oprah went around and handed every single staff member of her magazine, no matter how long they had been employed at O Magazine, and gave them a customized iPad leather case with a new iPad in it; and even awesomer than that, a check for ten-thousand dollars.
Esther: Ridiculous.
Katie: Ten-thousand dollars!
Esther: I wanna work for Oprah.
Katie: Oprah! Yes. Surely she needs an entrepreneurial radio segment -
Esther: Yes!
Katie: - right?
Esther: We should partner with Oprah. What do you think John? John's laughing. "Oprah. Oprah please!"
Katie: John, you love Oprah.
John: I'm laughing because it's like, "Ah, I just got here, it's my first day. Whaaaat!" (Laughter)
Katie: Whaaaat!
Esther: Yeah. (Laughter)
Katie: Like, "Oh, this happens every Friday. Don't worry about it." (Laughter)
Esther: Last week we had margarita machines.
Katie: That's right. (Laughter) Yeah John, you're totally into this. You wanna do it. (Laughter)
Esther: Awe man, that's awesome.
John: Oprah, you're the best!
Esther: You rock.
Katie: (Laughter) You'd scream like a little girl.
John: Aaaaaah!
(Laughter)
Katie: Very convincing. (Laughter)
Esther: Oh that's awesome. So another CEO that we thought was really um, quite philanthropic to his loyal employees, he gave sixty-million dollars as a gift -
Katie: Sixty!
Esther: - to his employees. His name is Leonard Abess. He's the owner and CEO of Miami based City National Bank. He sold a controlling stake in the bank last fall and gave sixty-million dollars as a gift to his 471 current and former employees. Not just current, but former employees.
Katie: That is amazing! And more amazing still - or maybe you're completely expecting this - I feel like the quotes that he gave for this article really made him shine out. I mean like you can really see who this guy is. One of his quotes was, "We have never had a layoff.
We have paid a bonus to every employee every year. We have never raised the cost of insurance. Today the employees cost is the same as it was 20 years ago. I tell young CEOs that before you cut anybody's compensation, before you fire anybody for economic reasons, you deal with yourself. Your perks go, your bonus goes, your salary goes. I'm very surprised when I see huge amounts of money that people go to at the top level, even as there are massive layoffs, especially when they take government money."
Esther: It's amazing.
Katie: I mean it's a CEO who completely is walking his talk. Sixty-million dollars.
Esther: He also said - I actually really like this even better. "And I always realize that while there are 400-plus people doing the work, making it successful, the profits were going in one direction. I felt particularly based on longevity that these people were owners. They acted like owners, they worked like owners, and I wanted to acknowledge that."
Katie: I love this guy.
Esther: I mean, who is he? He's phenomenal. We need to find him and have him on the show.
Katie: Yes, let's -
Esther: Leonard Abess - if anyone knows Leonard Abess, we would like to talk to him.
Katie: Exactly. Leonard, we're coming, okay, we're coming. (Laughter)
Esther: Yep, we're coming for you. There's another one that also gave a significant amount of money to his employees - twenty-million dollars.
Katie: Actually he didn't just give money, he gave the whole company to his employees.
Esther: What?
Katie: So CEO of Bob's Red Mill - which if you're a hippy like me, it's Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods. They do funky things like Quinoa flour and like very holistic products. You see them all over the place - international food stores.
Esther: Textured vegetable protein.
Katie: TVP baby, that's right. Good girl! (Laughter) Wow, I'm rubbing off on you.
Esther: Aaaaah!
Katie: So Bob Moore turned 81 years old and decided on his birthday at his birthday party that his business partners were actually throwing him, that he wanted to set up an employee stock ownership plan and essentially make his company completely employee-owned.
Esther: Whoooo!
Katie: So he'd had a great run, he was so passionate about what he did, but what he loved even more were his people. He says, "It's been my dream all along to turn this company over to the employees," said Mr. Moore. "I get to spend every day with our many loyal and longtime employees who will now share in ownership; and it just thrills me to know that they will be joined by many new faces over the years." I mean, so here's a guy, he could have made a whole lot of bank, but giving it back to the people, you know, giving it back to his people.
Esther: Very cool.
Katie: Yeah. I'm feeling smiley. (Laughter)
Esther: Yeah. It just really amazes me that there are CEOs out there that don't get enough press. I mean this got some press, these stories got a lot of press, but not the same kind of press that the negative stuff gets. It's still in the news the negative stuff, especially now because of BP and -
Katie: Hello Tony Hayward.
Esther: Yeah.
Katie: Way to -
Esther: He's certainly the villain these days.
Katie: Yeah, exactly.
Esther: And we're forgetting there are still some amazing CEOs out there. Let's not have what happened last year and the year before happen again. It's like, there are still amazing CEOs out there and leaders out there who are leading their teams and running their businesses -
Katie: Exactly.
Esther: - and taking care of business.
Katie: So can we just talk about one more CEO that I personally admire very much and I believe you do also Esther.
Esther: Oh yes.
Katie: Can we just toot your horn for a minute.
Esther: Oh yes, let's toot!
Katie: Okay. Make the announcement to the world Esther. I just can't hold it in.
Esther: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. So Blinds.com is actually in Business Week this week talking about hiring. There's a feature in there about our CEO Jay, who's, as you know, also my father, and it's just a really awesome article. And it's talking about not just Blinds.com, but about small businesses and how they're hiring and making the decisions to hire, and how the management is having to struggle through those decisions and just trying to take care of the employees they already have and make sure there's enough work to go around; and then if there's too much work to go around, how do they remedy that without overloading people and making sure everyone stays happy. So I'm really excited. Go to Business Week or pick up your copy of Business Week this week. There's a great article in there and thank you for letting me indulge on the show.
Katie: But it ties in perfectly, because I mean, here is your "Captain, O Captain" who is at the home of Blinds.com, you know, talking about the importance of payroll, the importance of - you know, I mean he could save money outsourcing call centers, but I mean he wants his people here. He takes care of his people and that is just so commendable -
Esther: Well thank you.
Katie: - so congratulations darling. (Laughter)
Esther: Thank you! Yeah, we're really loving these CEOs these days - the ones who are doing good, doing right by their employees. So keep looking out for them, keep reading the news about them. The more clicks those news stories get, the more these writers will write about them.
Katie: Yeah; and if you know of a CEO that we should know about, please tell us. We are easily found on Twitter at Twitter.com/overtimeshow; and of course we're on Facebook at Facebook.com/overtimeshow. Link us.
Esther: Wonderful, do it.
Katie: Tell us. (Laughter)
Esther: Get on. I guess that wraps up Segment 2 of the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. I'm Esther Steinfeld.
Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.
Esther: We'll be back with Segment 3.
