Making the Case for Positive Organizations: An Interview With U Of M Ross School of Business Professor Wayne Baker
January 1, 2015
Zingerman’s Community Newsletter
Wayne Baker was interviewed in the Jan / Feb Zingerman’s Community Newsletter:
Gauri: Tell us about your relationship with Zingerman’s. When did you first “meet”? When was your first date? When and how did things get to the next level?
Wayne: Hmmm, this is like the proverbial first-date story. Well, here goes. Cheryl and I moved from Chicago to Ann Arbor in 1995 when I joined the business school faculty at the University of Michigan. I hadn’t heard about Zingerman’s before then, but once I got here, I kept hearing about it from colleagues who raved about the food. It can’t be THAT good, I thought, so I didn’t go out of my way to visit the Deli (not that anything is out of the way in Ann Arbor). When I finally went, I was surprised at how good the food was—and how unusually positive and happy the staff seemed to be. Odd, I thought—they actually seem like they’re glad I’m here! Besides noting their unusual behavior, I didn’t think much more about it and simply filed the thought away.