Dissension is Vital to Iron Horse Brewery

“iron horse brewery is a flowery love fest of employee satisfaction rolled into a sugary, honey laced beer-battered tortilla”


Sometimes, that’s what I imagine people think of us, especially when you read the myriad of blog posts, where they disclose how much they love working for iron horse brewery, because it’s so damned friendly.

While, I am definitely in that camp, I believe it is the healthy dissension, trust and autonomy within the cousinhood that makes the company what it is.

I’ll illuminate in expanded list form:

Challenging Ideas is almost Mandatory
It is not only safe, but it is encouraged to challenge ideas that are put on the table. Whether it is the tagline for a new beer, kicking off a new collaboration initiative, or discussing the merits of twerking, every single person’s opinion, thought, suggestion on the subject is highly valued. This doesn’t mean that all ideas are incorporated or we try to cram everything into a situation, but what it does mean is that every employee has a platform to be heard, and they know it. Or if they don’t know, hopefully now they do, unless of course they don’t read these blog posts, in which case, I applaud them for challenging the notion that they should be reading this in the first place.

Trust is Inherent
After Greg or Ross or Suzanne has been challenged on an idea, then blatantly ignore what the person said, only to move forward with the original idea, there is an inherent trust that seems to kick-in. I think I’ve literally heard it. “I have my doubts, but I trust you and will support the idea completely” This is bi-directional and communicated often. At least that’s what I tell myself when I railroad an idea down someones throat. I don’t do that. Maybe.

Everyone is a Leader
Some of us just finished reading a book called Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet, in which the author contends that the Leader – Follower method is outdated and inefficient. Instead a Leader-Leader model is the way to go. While the book itself could have been cut in half, the ideas are sound, and as I told Greg, “we pretty much do these things already”. If you are the boss of someone, I’d encourage you to read it. If you are being bossed around by someone and want it to stop, then I’d encourage you to buy is at a gift and give it to your boss with a sticky note that says “hey, i thought you’d like this book on how to treat me like a f%*king human”

So, really when you look at these ideas, it’s not the “brewery environment” that makes it a great place to work, it’s the people in the environment, with their convictions, trust, and self-directed awesomeness that makes me feel excited about the pile of papers on my very pinterest-fail-like pallet desk.

Damn it. This post just became another syrupy flowery post.

I’m going to go poke a kitten in the eyeball now, then Chauncy is going to write a post to balance this out.

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Love Forever,

Jared