Hamdi Ulukaya on Bringing Humanity to Leadership
When Kraft’s plant shut down in South Edmeston in upstate New York in 2005, it was the latest of many closings. The feeling of its former employees there was “These large companies gave up on us.” It was like being in a cemetery. Here I show up with a little knowledge, and an accent that was a lot worse than what it is now. I try to tell the former employees: We can start something! I couldn’t promise security—or that the factory would really come back. It was me and five factory workers, and the odds were highly against us.
In two years, we were making yogurt. I wasn’t as confident as I am now, and I would get shaken up talking to 40 employees. In our third year—2010—I decided to hire another
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