Can I Get You a Cup of Coffee?

Mike Bloomberg has a disarming way that he often starts meetings: he offers to get you a cup of coffee.

It’s a small, but remarkable gesture and one he extends to people ranging from presidents to product managers. 

It starts when you arrive at his desk. He’ll shake your hand and ask if you want some coffee.

That part isn’t unusual. 

It’s what comes next that stands out.

He doesn’t ask his assistant or a junior person to fetch it.

He walks over to the side table in his conference room and reaches out for a cup. He pauses to ask if you prefer decaf or regular before pouring the coffee from a dispenser.  He finishes by asking if you want to any “milk or sugar.” 

And then he hands it to you.

The whole process takes only about 15 seconds, but it changes the dynamic and sets a tone.

It leaves the recipient with the indelible memory of being served by a billionaire.

It doesn’t happen every meeting. Sometimes there are too many people or he’s pressed for time. He doesn’t do it with close associates he sees often. 

But it does happen a lot. 

And it happens to people no matter their rank or station. 

It happened to me on several occasions during the years I worked at Bloomberg and it happened to plenty of my colleagues. Nearly everyone seems pleasantly surprised. 

I don’t think it’s calculated. It’s a habit of hospitality that he has developed over his career, a genuine reflex he realizes help him connect with people.

He does it for visitors and employees he doesn’t see often or know well.  

Whatever the reason and however it started, it’s effective as hell.

And it’s something any leader could do.

In almost every case you can imagine, it would help executives bridge the impossibly large hierarchical gulf that exists between themselves and other employees.

The first time Mike offered me coffee I declined. I didn’t want to put him out. 

The second time — and every other time after that — I accepted.

I realized that part of the point is to open space for small talk, the kind of chit chat that helps you build a relationship. In that brief window, Mike might ask you where you are going on vacation or talk about his Spanish lessons.

A lot of executives struggle to connect with employees.

In part, that’s because they don’t have a framework to begin a conversation.  

Offering to get them a cup of coffee is one place to start. 

(Part of a series about leadership lessons I learned from three decades at Bloomberg.)

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

MICHAEL PALIN’S DIARY: “Today, there is nothing more that I want than I have.”

THE ROOM OF EXPERTS: If you are every lucky enough to be in the room where the decisions are made, invariably you discover that there is nothing special about the people or the room.

ON HAVING KIDS: “You think you understand love before kids. You don’t.” Thoughts from Nikunj Kothari on the occasion of his second born.

KIERKEGAARD ON WALKING: Soren Kierkegaard on walking: “Do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being.”

RYAN HOLIDAY ON WALKING: “I’m not saying going for a walk will solve all your problems, I’m just saying there is almost no problem that’s going to be made worse.”

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