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Ancestry CEO Explains Why He Eats Lunch With Employees Instead Of Executives
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News18•13-10-2026, 11:30
Ancestry CEO Explains Why He Eats Lunch With Employees Instead Of Executives
- •Howard Hochhauser, CEO of Ancestry, prefers eating lunch with employees in the office break room to gain honest feedback and understand company dynamics.
- •The CEO explained that informal lunch conversations help him overcome the challenge of getting unfiltered information that usually does not reach senior leadership.
- •Hochhauser adopted this habit from Ace Greenberg, the founder of Bear Stearns, who sat on the employee floor to eat and remained accessible to everyone.
- •Casual lunch chats helped Hochhauser understand employees' concerns about family responsibilities and school schedules when planning return-to-office guidelines.
Key Questions Answered
Howard Hochhauser prefers eating lunch with employees in the office break room because it gives him a sense of what is happening across the company and grants him access to honest, unfiltered feedback.
His habit was inspired by Ace Greenberg, the founder and chief executive of Bear Stearns, whom Hochhauser observed regularly sitting on the employee floor to eat back in the late 1990s.
Casual lunches helped Hochhauser learn about employees' personal concerns regarding family responsibilities, school drop-offs, and children's sports schedules before introducing new return-to-office guidelines.
