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- Frank Slootman’s promise to employees: “I am here to better your station in life”
Frank Slootman’s promise to employees: “I am here to better your station in life”
Frank was brought in as CEO for three different companies: Data Domain, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. When he joined each company, the first thing he did was tell the employees:
“I am here to better your station in life.”
As he explains, “This is what builds fabric in organizations.” When employees feel like you have their back and know what’s important to them, it builds trust.
Frank also emphasizes that this can’t just be an empty promise — you have to mean it. It’ll make your work more meaningful too:
“We have changed people’s station in life on a massive scale in all these companies. That is the single-most enduring and rewarding aspect of doing this work. It’s not how well we did personally — which is also great. But after a while, it’s about how many people you’ve helped and their families.”