A Father’s Day Note

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my father. A lot of people say their fathers were larger than life characters, but mine really was: 6’4”, an incredible athlete, a real tough guy. But at the same time, he was super sensitive and kind. Neighborhood kids were able to go to my father with problems that they were afraid to talk to their own parents about.

I always appreciated that combination of toughness and sensitivity, which I’ve tried to emulate in my own life. It was through my father’s example that I learned it was possible to be a sweet, caring person who tries to do the right thing in the world while still being an aggressive competitor, whether it’s in sports or in business.

When I was 16, he sent me out to help one of  his best friends, who was opening a furniture store in Manhattan. That was a big thrill for a kid from Queens at the time. I started out working in the warehouse, cleaning tables in the showroom, doing whatever I needed to do to be a great employee. Pretty soon they put a sportjacket on me and taught me to sell.  It was the beginning of my career as an entrepreneur.

We grew that one store into a chain of more than 200 across the country, and today my father’s close friend, Harley Greenfield, is my cofounder and partner at Saatva and one of my best friends too. So even though my father isn’t around anymore, Harley and I tell stories about him and quote him all the time. There’s a “Sandy line” that we laugh about for almost everything.

I’ve been thinking about my father’s philosophy a lot lately, as Saatva enters its second decade of profitable growth and we continue on the path to $1 billion in revenue. He always taught me not to boast. He would say, if you’re good, people will know it. You don’t have to tell them. But as a business leader and the public face of a company, it’s my job to brag about what we have accomplished. So I do it, even if it doesn’t come naturally because of what my father drilled into me.

On this Father’s Day, I want to give him credit for instilling the boldness and strength that let me think I could go out and create something great, and the humility to know that it’s because of other people—my dad, Harley, the teams at Saatva that do amazing things—that I’ve been able to accomplish what that 16-year-old kid could only dream about.

This article has been reposted on LinkedIn.