At the time, Hastings was 28 years old, working at Coherent Thought under its CEO Barry Plotkin. Hastings was writing code every day, programming into the night and stacking up dirty coffee cups on his desk, which were always cleaned eventually. However, about a year into his habit, he found out his hoard of cups weren’t being scrubbed by the janitor.
“One morning I came in very early to the office [at] like 4:30 [a.m.], and I went into the bathroom, and there was my CEO. And he’s washing coffee cups,” Hastings explained. “And I was like, ‘Barry, are you washing my coffee cups?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘Have you been doing that all year?’
“He said ‘Yes.’ And I’m like, ‘Why?’” he continued. “And he said, ‘Well, you do so much for us and this is the one thing I can do for you.’”
“I realized, wow, you not only have to be like this servant leader, you also have to be this strategy person,” Hastings said, adding that the coffee cup experience “formed such an impression upon me that I’ve tried to emulate that aspect.”
Similar to Hastings, the leader of the breakfast chain reeling in $1 billion in revenue yearly was inspired by a handwritten thank-you note from his CEO at Hard Rock Cafe when he was just 26. Now Tomasso carves out time every month to handwrite letters to workers, like cooks and dishwashers, who are celebrating major career milestones. Tomasso has penned hundreds of notes so far. Plus, he still grubs alongside First Watch staffers instead of eating in his office.
