We’re both fans of Bartaco, so when we came across a story about the company’s CEO, Anthony Valletta, it immediately caught our attention. At the bottom of every Bartaco receipt is his personal phone number and email address. Not a customer service line. Not a survey link. His actual contact information. Recently, Bartaco took it a step further by launching what they called the “CEO Hotline.” For two hours, customers could call or text the CEO directly with questions, complaints, feedback, or ideas. The promotion literally said, “Questions, complaints, brilliant ideas, we want to hear it all.”
Early in one of our careers, we had the opportunity to work on a project with someone whose schedule was, frankly, far more important than ours. He was balancing significant professional responsibilities, advising others, and managing more competing priorities than we could fully appreciate at the time. Yet whenever we met with him, you would have never known it. He had an incredible ability to make you feel like you were the most important person he needed to talk to that day. He wasn’t checking his phone while you were speaking. He wasn’t glancing at the clock. He wasn’t mentally moving on to the next item on his calendar before the current discussion was finished. For those few minutes, his attention was completely focused on the person in front of him. Looking back, that’s what made such an impression. It wasn’t that he had more time than everyone else. In fact, he probably had less. What made him different was his ability to be fully present with the time he did have.
We’ll admit we’re not always perfect at this ourselves. Our team gave us feedback recently that we have a habit of showing up a few minutes late to meetings. It’s the kind of thing that’s easy to rationalize: busy schedules, back-to-back calls, good intentions. But the message it sends, even unintentionally, is the opposite of what we’re describing here. We’re working on it.
That’s what makes the Bartaco story so interesting. The phone number isn’t really the point. The point is the message behind it: You can reach me. Not because the CEO has unlimited time. Not because he answers every text within thirty seconds. The message is that he’s willing to be accessible. More importantly, he’s willing to listen.
The best leaders we’ve worked with have all found their own way to send that same message. Some walk the floor every day and greet people by name. Some regularly check in with employees without an agenda. Some have an open-door policy that people actually believe. Some give out their cell phone number and mean it.
At the end of the day, we don’t think employees are looking for perfection from their leaders, and we don’t think they’re expecting immediate answers to every problem. What they’re looking for is evidence that they matter. They want to know that when they have feedback – a question, an idea, a concern, or simply need a few minutes of your attention – they’ll get your attention.
Maybe that’s the real lesson behind the phone number on the receipt. Not that every leader should publish their cell phone number. It’s that others should know they’re worth your time. The candidate going through your interview process is reading signals just as carefully as your longest-tenured employee. Whether it’s a timely follow-up after an interview, a manager who actually shows up to a new hire’s first week, or a leader who checks in without an agenda, the message is the same: you matter here. And in a market where candidates have options and employees have memories, that message travels further than most leaders realize.
Until next time,
Your Spherion WI & Northern IL team