
If you are not familiar with Hamdi Ulukaya, he is the son of a dairy farmer from rural Turkey who came to the U.S. without speaking English and with a mere $3,000 in his pocket. In 2005, he saw a for-sale sign for an old yogurt factory in upstate New York that had just laid off its workers. When he ventured inside, something stirred in his soul and he took a risk. Today, that yogurt factory is one of two producing Chobani yogurt, the No. 1-selling strained yogurt brand in the U.S.
It’s not just that I really like yogurt, or that Hamdi has really great hair, it’s that he is an
example of how a company can succeed by believing in human dignity, and by putting
employees and communities first.
The examples below speak for
themselves.
In 2015, feeling a personal responsibility
to help address the refugee crisis, he decided to hire local African and
South-East Asian refugees living near the Chobani factory in upstate New York to “give them a chance to start a new life.”
During a recent TED Talk, he explained
this decision as corporate responsibility. When people pointed out that the
refugees didn’t speak English, he got translators. When they explained that they
didn’t have transportation, he got buses. Today, 30 percent of his workforce in
rural New York are immigrants and refugees. “From the minute refugees get a job, they stop
being refugees and start planning for their futures.”
He went further than his factory
walls. At the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, he launched the Tent Partnership for Refugees along with three other corporate CEOs. Their goal: Mobilize
the private sector to improve the lives and livelihoods of the more than 25
million men, women and children forcibly displaced from their home counties. Tent
has grown from the original four companies to more than 100 and today supports
refugees in 34 countries. And it’s not just philanthropic. Hamdi and his partners believe passionately that the
private sector, more so than government, is uniquely positioned to address the
refugee crisis by mobilizing the networks, resources, innovation and
entrepreneurial spirit of the business community. I couldn’t agree more.
Within his own company Hamdi has
taken more bold steps. In 2016, he
introduced Chobani Shares, an initiative to give every full-time member of the
company the opportunity to share in the growth of Chobani over time. And in
2017, he implemented a new paid parental leave policy, offering 100 percent paid
parental leave for six weeks for all full-time hourly and salaried employees –
one of the most generous leave policies in the country.
When Chobani
needed to build a second factory to meet growing demand, Hamdi didn’t turn to
the state that offered the largest tax incentive. He turned to a struggling,
rural community in Idaho. He was told he wouldn’t be able to find the skilled
workers he needed so he partnered with the local community college to train
them together. Today the community is thriving, and the plant is one of the largest
yogurt plants in the world.
Earlier this year, when he heard that students with
outstanding lunch fees at Warwick Public Schools in Rhode Island would be
limited to eating “sun butter and jelly” sandwiches, Hamdi announced that Chobani
would donate nearly $50,000 to pay
off the debts.
For me, Hamdi cinched the role of leading man in a starring
role in an April TED Talk where he called
for a new “anti-CEO playbook.” Here is an excerpt from that talk, which I am
sure you will find, like I did, as tantalizing to listen to on YouTube as Bradley Cooper is to watch in
A Star is Born.
“Corporate America [today] says
it [business] is about profits…the current CEO playbook says it is about shareholders.
It is time to admit that the playbook that guided business and CEOs for the last
40 years is broken….It tells you everything about business except how to be a
noble leader. We need a new playbook that sees people again. That sees above and
beyond profits.”
He went on to describe the four
pillars of the new anti-CEO playbook:
1. Gratitude. Instead of maximizing profit for shareholders, “business
should take care of their employees first.”
2. Community. Today, businesses ask, ‘What kind of tax incentives can
you give me?’ “Business should go to the struggling communities and ask, ‘How
can I help you?’”
3. Responsibility. Business today believe they should stay out of politics,
but “business, as citizens, must take
a side on issues like immigration, climate change, gun violence, race, income
inequality... Business, not government, is in best position to make a change in
today’s world.”
4. Accountability. Today, CEOs report to the corporate board, but “I think
CEOs should report to the consumer… Consumers are in power; that is the reason
that business exist.”
He ended his talk remembering the
treasure he found in the factory in upstate New York and what he learned from the
people who had been laid off about the dignity of work and of the human spirit.
“We need to unleash that [spirit] all across the world…There are people and
places all around the world left out and left behind, but their spirit is still
strong…they just want another chance. This is the difference between return on
investment and return on kindness…this is the difference between profit and
true wealth.”
If I could have just one wish, it
would not be to walk down the red carpet with Bradley Cooper (but, in case he’s
reading, that would be nice). My wish
would be for all CEOs to take a page or two out of Hamdi’s “anti-CEO playbook”
and to see what is possible when they bring the best of humanity into the
boardroom.
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