In an period of AI avatars and digital overload, one thing so simple as a handwritten notice can really feel like a relic of the previous. In reality, many Gen Zers can’t even learn cursive.
However for First Watch CEO Chris Tomasso, old style notes of appreciation are a ritual.
The chief of the $1 billion-a-year in income breakfast and lunch chain takes time every month to handwrite congratulations to cooks and dishwashers celebrating main milestones, like 10, 20, and even 30 years with the corporate. With greater than 15,000 workers, Tomasso has penned over 500 notes—and believes the small gesture has an outsized affect.
“I just love people that pick their lane, they love it, and they don’t want to do anything else,” Tomasso informed Fortune. “They want to be the best dishwasher they can, and so I want to thank and reward loyalty, longevity, [and] the contributions that they make to the company.”
First Watch CEO Chris Tomasso writes handwritten notes every month to his workers reaching main milestones (Courtesy of First Watch).
Tomasso traces his strategy to a second early in his profession. At 26, he acquired a handwritten thank-you notice from his CEO at Arduous Rock Café—a letter he’s saved to this present day. When Tomasso turned a CEO himself in 2018, he determined to hold that very same people-first philosophy ahead.
“I tried to minimize the [CEO] title as best I can when I’m interacting with people,” Tomasso stated. “I eat lunch in the break room with everybody, which always, for whatever reason, blows new employees away—that I just sit down next to them and bring my lunch and have lunch with them. I think it’s a shame that there’s that feeling.”
It’s a easy act that displays a broader management lesson: connection issues.
“Our job is to create an environment where our employees are happy and feel appreciated and they take care of the rest,” Tomasso added on LinkedIn. “And they do it better than anyone.”
The ability of a thank-you
Whereas know-how has made the world quicker and seemingly much less private, slowing right down to ship a handwritten thank-you notice is a observe numerous enterprise leaders say nonetheless can’t be beat.
“I was taught by great mentors of the power of sending a thank-you note,” van Raemdonck informed Fortune in 2023. “It’s really important for me—the moment of ‘thank you’—because I know what it is to receive a thank-you, to be acknowledged.”
Mike Wirth, chairman and CEO of Chevron, additionally takes time to ship “old-school, on paper” messages of appreciation to workers throughout the worldwide vitality big.
“I think back to when I was early in my career, and if a CEO had sent me a letter and actually knew what I was doing, it would have been a really big deal for me,” Wirth stated on the How Leaders Lead podcast with host David Novak. “And so I try to remember what it was like to be in the jobs that I’m visiting and that I had those jobs myself one time. And I want to make sure that people know that I appreciate them.”
The artwork of placing pen to paper isn’t misplaced on youthful leaders both. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for instance, typically ditches screens when he’s problem-solving.
“I think of writing as externalized thinking. I still, if I have a very hard problem, or if I feel a little bit confused about something, have not found anything better to do than to sit down and make myself write it out,” the 40-year-old stated on the How I Write podcast.
“I’m a big believer of, I take a bunch of notes, and then I clearly rip them out so I can look at multiple pages at the same time, and I can crumple them up and throw them on the floor when I’m done.”
Finally, as AI continues to reshape how the world communicates, placing pen to paper could proceed to show that connection can outlast comfort.
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