WeWork: 3 Things I Admire About its Founder Adam Neumann

It’s Sunday.

And for me, that means writing with a little twist on my usual content for marketing leaders and digital entrepreneurs.

So today I wanted to share 3 things I admire about Adam Neumann — co-founder of WeWork.

I’ve been utterly engrossed by the AppleTV show called “WeCrashed” this past month. So engrossed I ended up paying to watch a documentary called “WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn” and have just started reading “Billion Dollar Loser” which is based on the same story.

Long story short.

At one point, WeWork was valued at $47bn before crashing to an IPO valuation of $9bn. Adam took a lot of the blame and was made out to be a laughing stock by many. He still walked away with $1.2bn whilst many employees left with nothing.

Despite all of this, here are 3 things I really admired about Adam.

1/ Vision. Adam was amazing at sharing his vision of “We”. Yes, it was very cult-like, but if you look at a lot of great leaders, they have a real skill in articulating a brand vision which everyone can get behind. He had the backing of his employees, his leadership team, and investors.

2/ Storytelling. Adam was an exceptional storyteller. And he could adapt his story to suit the audience. Whether that was investors like Masayoshi Son from SoftBank who bought into the vision, resulting in a $4bn investment, or employees working on low wages in the hope of a big payout at IPO. Founders must be able to tell stories and Adam certainly could do that.

3/ Customer Experience. Adam went all out when it came to the customer and user experience inside each of the WeWork locations. I actually felt this first hand in London. The branding, the facilities, and the community were exceptional. I loved the energy. Still wish I had pinched one of the “Do what you love” mugs.

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