{"id":39759,"date":"2021-06-16T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T20:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/press-room.saatva.com\/?p=39759"},"modified":"2025-11-21T19:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:31:08","slug":"a-fathers-day-note","status":"publish","type":"leadership_article","link":"https:\/\/press-room.saatva.com\/articles\/a-fathers-day-note\/","title":{"rendered":"A Father\u2019s Day Note"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ron Rudzin, CEO & Founder of Saatva<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not a day goes by that I don\u2019t think about my father. A lot of people say their fathers were larger than life characters, but mine really was: 6\u20194\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always appreciated that combination of toughness and sensitivity, which I\u2019ve tried to emulate in my own life. It was through my father\u2019s 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\u2019s in sports or in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We grew that one store into a chain of more than 200 across the country, and today my father\u2019s close friend, Harley Greenfield, is my cofounder and partner at Saatva and one of my best friends too. So even though my father isn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about my father\u2019s 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\u2019re good, people will know it. You don\u2019t have to tell them. But as a business leader and the public face of a company, it\u2019s my job to brag about what we have accomplished. So I do it, even if it doesn\u2019t come naturally because of what my father drilled into me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this Father\u2019s 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\u2019s because of other people\u2014my dad, Harley, the teams at Saatva that do amazing things\u2014that I\u2019ve been able to accomplish what that 16-year-old kid could only dream about.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article has been reposted on LinkedIn<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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