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I never knew Richie, and I've never known Richie's last name. I know he owned and ran a restaurant named Uptown Pizza in New York City. And I know he's dead now.
There are a couple of other things I know about Richie. He was a guy who understood the big picture. If you did Richie a solid he would do a solid back, establishing a quid pro quo that served everyone.
I know, too, that Richie was a stand-up guy with his employees. And I know they were deeply loyal and affectionate toward him.
All of this and I never had the privilege of meeting the man.
Uptown Pizza was the steady diet of one Artie Lange the comedian and radio personality. Artie spent eight years as one of Howard Stern's co-hosts and has a show now on DirecTV.
When Artie worked for The Howard Stern Show, he would from time to time mention Uptown Pizza and how amazing the food was. His mentions brought business to Richie, this small business owner who would never be able to afford to pay for advertising on a show like that.
Artie lived right around the corner from Uptown Pizza and would order deliveries several times a week. Richie so appreciated Artie's generosity, not just in being a loyal patron but giving them such publicity, that he decided that Artie would no longer have to pay for his food. He wouldn't even let his delivery boys take tips from him.
And Artie appreciated it.
He tells the story in his new book, Crash and Burn. (If you want to read a book that will grab you by the hair and stick your face into the abyss of drug addiction and despair, read Crash and Burn. "Unvarnished" isn't the word for it.)
"I actually wanted to give these people my money!" Artie writes. "But every time I'd try to pay the delivery guys for the food (let alone a tip) they'd refuse and run away from me like scared bookies fleeing John Gotti."
Finally, one day, he asked one of the deliver boys what Richie had said. "Artie Lange never pays for anything," replied the young man. "That's what Richie tells us. If he hears that any of us take your money, that guy loses his job."
But here's what makes this particularly special...
Artie asked the delivery boy that question twelve months after Richie had died. Richie died of cancer, but his employees were still carrying out his wishes "as if he'd come back from the dead to fire them if they took my cash!" Artie exclaims in the book.
Richie saw the big picture...he wasn't stingy with those who helped him. He was extremely generous with someone who was generous with him.
And his people loved him and were intensely loyal. Even after his death they were carrying out his wishes.
There is no question that loyalty is garnered easier in small offices and shops where the boss and employees are in each other's space; where they are in close interactive proximity.
But there is a lesson here for larger companies, to wit: part of a leader winning the employees' loyalty is letting them get to know him/her; letting them get a feel for who he/she is; allowing a degree of transparency.
Mystery bosses who hide away upstairs and away from their employees are enigmas. People can't be loyal to enigmas; they can't get their arms around them; they don't know how they operate, what they are, what they're made of and what they stand for. Being loyal to an enigma is like trying to embrace a ghost.
Proximity matters.
Artie's arrangement didn't last forever. It couldn't because he felt too uncomfortable with the restaurant's ongoing generosity. After a few years of trying to find ways to slip the delivery boys money, he finally said that enough is enough and insisted to the owners that he pay.
And now he does. And we hope, wherever he is, that Richie is ok with that.
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