Tom Garfinkel
Appearances
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Tom Garfinkel, Vice Chairman, CEO, and President, Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Steve is very focused on being best in class and being willing to invest in being best in class.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Well, my first reaction was, I don't like being second, so we're going to fix the family area. I could promise you that. We will have the best family area in football next year.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
One of the things that really struck us was at Clemson University, the locker room was really at the center of the facility. And from a layout standpoint, we really thought that's the right idea. We want this to be player-centric education. We want the players to be at the heart of everything we do here. And so to put the locker room at the center of the activity was really paramount.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
And then designing around that, literally sat down with the architect with a pen and pencil and drew out where the different functions would be adjacent to the locker room for players so that they could easily and quickly get to all the different areas that they needed to.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
So it could be the meal room, the cafeteria. It could be the team meeting rooms, which are where they spend a lot of time. There's everything from the sauna and steam room to the, you know, the cold and the hot plunge and the underwater treadmill. And then the training rooms next to that where the doctors and the therapists are. And then next to that is the weight room.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Yes. I think the locker room is really home base for them. There's an area for them to charge their phone. There's a comfortable seat. It's not a locker. You know, talking to Dan Marino and those guys, they literally had a nail they used to hang their helmet on. These are very bespoke custom environments. We try to design the environment to be... almost more Four Seasons-like without the mahogany.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I think you'll find that the Dolphins' logos are subtle. The only aqua you see in the locker room is the nameplate above the locker. Is that a tacit admission that people get sick of aqua?
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I think you might get sick of whatever the color is if it's all you see everywhere, right?
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Well, I would say is that causation or correlation? This is the first year that survey has been conducted to my knowledge. If you're winning over a long period of time, maybe you don't feel the need to put the resources in. And if you're not winning, you feel the need to create some competitive advantage. So, you know, I'm not sure maybe over 10 years or something that'll play itself out.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
I'm not sure it's relevant in the short term.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Yeah. Well, I certainly think employees are more empowered than in the past. Their voice matters more. It's really about listening. There's a tradition in football where a lot of things in the NFL are done the same way across teams in terms of how schedules are set, how coaching is applied, how scouting processes work.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
And one of the things I love about Mike, even in the interview process, was he really has an innovative mind. He really wants to do things differently.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
And one of those things is that players are really different today than they were even five years ago. They want to understand the why of things. And instead of just saying, shut up and get in line and do what I tell you to do, Mike will sit down with a player and say, well... you know, listen, wide receiver, here's why I need you to block corners and safeties in the run game.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Well, I get paid to catch touchdowns. Okay, so then I'll show them the film and say, okay, here's a three-yard run, and where the wide receiver didn't block the corner of safety. Here's the wide receiver blocking the corner of safety, and here's a 35-yard explosive run. But watch what happens the next play. Now the defense moves up into the box. Now you can run past them and score a touchdown.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
So you see how it's good for you? So he explains it to them, and they're like, oh, okay, coach. You know, I was down in the weight room today and the energy, the positive energy, the camaraderie, the excitement is palpable.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
No, I think it's definitely useful for comparison. I think it comes down to culture, values and standards, investment into your people. I'm a believer that people need to work together physically. Certain jobs, certain, you know, if you're coding, sitting at your computer all day and that's all you do, you could probably do that as easily from home as from an office.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
But most environments are still very human. They rely on human interaction and investing in those environments and investing in that organic interaction enhances creativity, it enhances productivity, it enhances... People want meaning, right? It goes back to Viktor Frankl and everything. I think meaning matters. And I think what we do, it's more than sports, it's more than football.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
It's about meaning, it's about social interaction. And we bring people together to experience life together. It's still better to be in a stadium when someone catches that pass in the fourth quarter to win a football game than to watch it on television by yourself at home because you're experiencing it with other people.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
And whether it's that as a fan or whether it's employees interacting together in the workplace, particularly in environments like this one, and many are like this, where people work very hard. They work long hours and you're with your coworkers a lot and you want it to be inspiring. You want it to inspire creativity, productivity, happiness, positivity.
Freakonomics Radio
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
And I think that's the bigger lesson in all this than anything football related.