“We’d better be.”

We set up listening sessions with staff representatives at the properties.

Some concerns were ordinary: shift scheduling, uniforms, broken equipment.

Others pointed toward a culture in which managers believed nobody at headquarters would defend them if a powerful executive disagreed.

I attended several meetings but listened more than I spoke.

At the last one, a young maintenance technician asked, “If someone important steals from the company, does the person who reports it get fired?”

I wanted to promise him that no one would ever face retaliation.