🎙️ Create a real attitude of gratitude at work - Episode 49

Did you ever meet a fellow who partially owns two professional sports teams, is the chief appreciation officer of a company with thousands of employees, and at the same time dedicates his life to improving the Jewish world. Meet David Moore this week on Jewish Grit. [music] >> [music] >> Welcome to Jewish Grit. We are extremely fortunate to have an amazing guest, an entrepreneur, uh, sports owner, uh, window company owner, and most importantly, stand-up comedian. Thank you so much for joining us. >> Thank you. Thanks. Great to be here. So, >> so David, I just want to jump right in. The name of the podcast is Jewish Grit, and we'll get to know a lot about you. I'm really excited about that. But I want you to think back to a moment in your life, either personally or professionally. You have a pretty lustrous career, thank God, a beautiful family, where you needed to use Jewish grit. I think two things come to mind. I got married in um in 1988. Four weeks later, my uncle, who was my business partner, uh died one night of a brain aneurysm like that. You know, we all have loss in our personal lives at various times. He was 52 years old. I was 33. I don't think a lot of times you deal with meetings that aren't that were supposed to happen the next morning that don't happen or you know your your offices are next to each other and just never there again. It's 37 years ago and uh you know I'll still get a little emotional saying that. Uh so you hit a chord that led to me buying the family out of the business a year later and then a year later. So now you're 1989 and then you're 1990 and in um in March 1991 the company went to chapter 11 >> and um you know when you graduate Harvard Business School and then you're running a company into chapter 11 it's like a malpractice suit for a doctor you know like what the hell are you doing over there? Uh and so that was a time of uh both challenge and introspection and uh I guess you would say grit uh to get through all that. You know, >> could you look back for a moment at the personal professional challenges? What do you think it was that pulled you through? >> You know, I'm a pretty hardworking, determined guy. I think I felt a lot of responsibility to uh the people in the business. um in both cases by the way because in both cases it threw the company to a loop when my uncle passed away and you know again it wasn't nobody was prepared for it. It was just one day he's not there uh you know and um uh and then we did a leverage buyout to take the family out and then and then um and then the challenges of that and a recession hit etc. Um, but I would say, yeah, a sense of responsibility, I think, is really, um, is really what drove me. You know, I I actually, ironically, told this story the other night to 350 people at a sales incentive uh, trip that we do every year. Uh, and we just had it uh, for 2025. And I said that I remember my uh, I don't remember when it was, it was in the early 80s. And um uh I was we had a we had a Christmas party for all the employees and um and their families. And um I brought my grandfather to the to the party and he was sitting there as an Eastern European Jew, never went to high school but had great insight always and I had a very close relationship with him. And um he we're sitting there in this you know catering hall whatever with about 300 people in the room and he taps me on the shoulder and he says um he says David look around. Uh he said that's a lot of responsibility you have. Uh don't ever forget that. And uh and I haven't ever forgotten that and I still think that now. We have 2,000 employees and and I still think that now. And I always know when I'm looking at a group of people of, you know, 200 people or 300 people, as I did last week, and I said to them, I know I'm not looking at 300 people. I'm looking at 700 people or 800 people because everybody has an elderly parent. Everybody has a child. Everybody has a a friend or a brother or a sister that depends on them in one form or other and uh spouse, a partner. Um, and so I take that responsibility. So, so I think that that's what got me through is just a sense of responsibility to the people that were in the company and to the people that um that I didn't want to let down and I so I carried that that responsibility. >> How'd you come out of chapter 11? >> We uh we hunkered it down. We made cuts. We did the things we needed to do and and then I negotiated with the bank and I uh I bought the bank out. The bank was the only people that got hurt. Every vendor got paid. Every employee got paid. Every bonus was was paid. uh it was the bad the bank that took the big hit. And I >> I want to take uh just double click on the responsibility piece because I know that you personally don't just feel responsible for your employees, which itself is is a lofty level, but also for the Jewish people because I know you're very seriously involved with many different Jewish causes. Talk to us a little bit about what you've done with that sense of responsibility and why it drives you. >> I mean, what have I done with it? You know, I've been doing this for a long time. I had a I have a great mentor still around, my aunt who was involved with Jewish family service in New Jersey and I was probably 26 or 27 years old and I went on the board of this small, you know, social service agency in in uh New Jersey. And so I was fortunate that I did that early. It's one of the things I tell young people is do it early. Don't wait around. Don't you don't have to wait around to give a big check or wait around until you'll have more time because you're working hard in your in your early parts of your career. Do it because it's it's the right thing to do, but also it it's um it gets you engaged in interesting things and and you never know what path it leads to. But um you know why do I why do I do that and what sense of responsibility do I have? Um you know John Ruske who was the head of U.J JA in New York for many years used to say that um you know we are the most privileged Jews in the history of the planet and uh and we should never take that for granted and uh no matter what level we're at we are the most privileged Jews and so um so I think I I feel um a pride in that but also a sense of responsibility in that. >> You're a stand-up comedian right? What does that mean? How did you how did you start doing comedy? You just make jokes and people laugh and you're like, "Let me make this public or I was always a pretty good public speaker. I always loved comedy." Um, and I could remember jokes. Uh, and um, and I used to go, again, when I was single, I used to go to the comedy clubs in New York because it was fun and I would sometimes just go there by myself just to just to watch. I love standup comedy. And um and then uh one day a friend of mine saw there was a um there was a contest for the funniest amateur the funniest amateur Jewish comedian in New York. And um and I had I had been often a a toast, you know, done a good job toasting friends at weddings. I was best man in a number of weddings over the years and and I would get the compliments from the caterer. You know, in 30 years I'd never heard a speech that funny. And you know, then friends 30th birthday parties and 40th birthday parties and whatever. So, so um uh friend of mine saw this and uh uh sent faxed it to me actually I remember and uh said you should do this and and I thought oh you know maybe I'll must have some time on my hands at the moment and and I did it. I I wrote five minutes of material. I took a few things from maybe some toast that I had done or whatever. Uh and in fact I remember my opening line so this 20 plus years ago uh it was uh I got on stage and I said wow I said there's a lot of Jews here today. I said, "Anybody get the idea that there must be another contest on the other side of f of town filled with Palestinians?" Okay. [laughter] So, uh, so, uh, and actually I came in second in the, uh, in the contest, and the second prize was, um, a videotape of me doing my five-minute routine. This is not a high level contest. [laughter] So, so, and I sent it to Caroline's Comedy Club a month or two later. And about a month later, they the guy called me, the booker there, and said, "Oh, we really like your stuff. You we want to put you on." And uh so I did and lo and behold, I've been doing it now for 20 some years. >> It's nice to make people happy and laugh, right? >> Yeah, it's it's fun, you know. It's it's fun to get the accolades uh both from the audience and from the uh and from the other comics and uh um and yeah, so I enjoy it. I still do it. I do it about once a month. You >> bomb actually two two times. Um uh one uh I got booked in the Catkills actually. I drove up there and my name is on the marquee and um I get there but and I I never asked you know was it a weekend you know whatever it turned out it was the New York Sanitation Workers Convention weekend it was garbage men's weekend and I was booked for this and uh and so and it was a big auditorium with like about 2,000 people um and um and I'm doing my jokes and I'm doing you know I mean people would describe my comedy maybe as smart comedy you know I mean and uh and I'm doing Martha the Steuart jokes at the time and and nobody's laughing and uh and and I never worked the crowd but um in the moment I think I think uh you know God touched me touched me on the shoulder and I in a moment I said I just stopped and I said I got to ask are there do we have Italians in the are there Italians here and they cheer I go how about the Irish are the Irish here I go and where are the Jews where are the Jews and there's dead silence I said are you telling me I've waited all my life the headline of the casket is not a Jew in place and they laughed and then I I won you got to that was it. So that was that was one time that was that was fun. But uh most of the time you know um my jokes are good good enough uh you know and uh and um and I do I do well and and I get good compliments and it's fun you know. Let's segue into your professional career. So it's the late uh 1980s and uh you get this company and then it goes bust and you rebuild it and then what happened? >> So you know I went right from college to graduate school. So I was young coming out of business school. you I was thinking in terms of semesters not uh not careers and uh and my uncles convinced me to join them to help them expand the business which we did for you know five or six years and then and then we ran into trouble with both my uncle etc. Um but I always viewed it as a platform to do other stuff and I was always I was always a bit of an entrepreneur um even in college and you know I used to do different things and stuff like that. So, um, I did a few things and then, um, in the mid '9s, um, there was a public remodeling. I knew the remodeling industry pretty well cuz that that's what my family my family's business was. It was facade remodeling. And there was a public company that, um, I could see information on really for the first time. There was not a lot of information about remodeling businesses. And there was a public remodeling company that was a licensing of Sears at the time. Um, and um, anyway, long story short, I ended up uh, engineering the sale of Century 21, the real estate company, which was owned by Metife, um, to a company called HFS. This is 1995, I think. And then, um, they did a licensed deal with this other company. It ended up that company was the number one appreciating stock of all exchanges at the time. There were three exchanges by the time at at that time, by the way. It was the American stock exchange, the NASDAQ and and the uh and the New York Stock Exchange. And then the company that was that bought Century 21 was one of the top appreciating companies and I owned a lot of stock in these businesses and made a lot of money and um and it was all things came together and it was really a kind of an entrepreneurial deal that I put together that ended up um doing really well for me from that. a buddy of mine from college who was a lawyer and then went to Wall Street. We started a private equity uh venture capital business in 1996 97. We did a handful of deals, a few successful. I'm happy to talk about those. I got plenty that weren't successful. Less happy to talk about those. I'll talk about those too. But um anyway, one thing led to another and then in 2003 um I learned about uh Anderson Window Company was doing um was starting a new brand called Renewal by Anderson. Uh and um I went and met the head of the company. Um they uh I got small territory in New Jersey. Um it was the window replacement business. I knew that industry pretty well. And that has grown to be the main business that I do. And so so I've really been been in and out of a number of businesses over the years. I was CEO of register.com at one point which there was which was a domain registration business kind of uh it was sort of GoDaddy before GoDaddy. Then this window business has become my main business because it it's grown to be a great business and I'm very fortunate to be >> a window of opportunity. >> Window of opportunity. There you go. >> Let's let's shift a little bit into the Jewish world today because I know you're very involved in many causes as a Jew in 2026. That's where we are right now with Mabdani as our mayor and you just wrote a piece about him. >> Yeah. >> In the in the Daily News piece. Yeah. >> What what are your feelings these days? You've been part of the active Jewish community probably for three decades or maybe even more. H that's that's a lot there's a lot there a lot to unpack there. Um you know one of the silver linings of October 7th and the rise in anti-semitism has been a rise in Jewish pride quite frankly and um uh and that's evidenced in synagogue attendance and that's evidenced in people getting engaged you know in in their Jew Jewishness. It's Brett Stevens said you know his recommendation was be more Jewy, you know, kind of thing. That's that's and you hear that a lot now. You hear that that that's the best way to combat anti-semitism. So there's a m there's an amount of um positivity and pride in that part of it. I would say that there's bewilderment to me in how upside down the world is. You know, it's not only evidenced in um uh what goes on uh with anti-semitism, what goes on in um uh you know, just in politics in general, etc. It's just it and things are very polarized. Um, so I'm bewildered by a lot of it, but a number of people said, "I admire that you stood up and are willing to put your name there. You know, I'm pretty active in New York to put my name there on a on a piece critical of uh the new mayor because I think he deserves it and I think he needs to know what we what we say and what we do." So, I've been active on the social service side, U.J. Federation. Obviously I was on the board of the Jewish uh Jewish board of family and children services which is the largest mental health agency in New York. So it's about Jews doing good tun etc. both for the Jewish community and beyond. And then it is also now you know the new leg on our stool in Judaism or the Jew in the Jewish community is fighting anti-semitism and figuring out how to do that. And we, you know, at I'm the president of the uh uh Jewish Community Relations Council, JCRC, in New York. And um we talk about it being bridge building. We talk about engaging with other communities. Uh doing doing right by the Jewish community and by right by other communities in the right way. Hopefully the ones that will reciprocate and the ones that will stand up um on October 8th, euphemistically or metaphorically on October 8th for us. So um >> what makes you most proud to be a Jew? I think um that Jews stand up and be counted in important moral, ethical, and community ways. And I think that's what I've always seen with it. You know, I happened to watch last night the movie Nuremberg. I don't know if you've seen it. And um you know, it's it was tough watching parts of it, but it was also getting through that and uh and seeing on the other side of it Israel. It's like when you walk out of Yadvashm and you walk, you know, you walk out that hallway and you see the hills of Jerusalem, you know, it's from the worst to the best. And so I think that that's what makes me proud of being Jewish is just uh the strength of of Judaism over the years and the Jewish community over the years. >> David, what makes you happy? >> Well, in three weeks I I I turned 70 and um um thank you. I know I look much younger. I appreciate you saying that. You saw that. you saw the shot. Okay, you should have said that. Okay, [laughter] so we can rewind. >> So, um, you know, but I'm I'm still, you know, going strong and, you know, many of my contemporaries are slowing down. They're divers, you know, they're doing things, whatever. And, um, and so people ask me like, why am I still doing it, you know, kind of thing. And I would tell you there there's two things. One, um, I've been able to do things beyond my wildest dreams or wildest imagination. Not even dreams. I'm just dreamed about it. um in terms of philanthropy and um and I get enormous satisfaction out of that and I'm able to talk to my kids about that. Yeah. I mean fin I mean not only time but but financially and some of the things that I've been able to do and continue to do and will be able to do even more so um uh so that's one thing and I just get enormous gratification. The other is you know we we have uh 2,000 employees in our company. My title by the way in my business is chief appreciation officer. That's my title. Everybody knows that in the business I get introduced that way. Um my business cards say that. Uh my my emails uh you know the signature says that and um because I I've tried to build a business over the last 23 years uh with an attitude of gratitude and um every meeting we have starts with a gratitude statement. Somebody we ask people who wants say something who wants to give a gratitude statement and one or two or three people will say something. They'll say I was with my grandmother this weekend. I got to my son won his baseball game this weekend. I want to thank Jim for helping me out with that sale last week or any of the any and all those things. Every meeting every meeting in the business starts that way. And um so but I get enormous satisfaction out of the success of the people there. We pay people well. Um, we we get them tickets to sporting events and concerts and and we do this not to get anything back because one thing you learn, by the way, is um you can do all that, but if you're not respecting people and if you're not uh uh if you're not doing the right thing by people, they'll say a little less tickets and a little more respect, you know, and people say that, by the way, when when somebody leaves the company, if they're pissed off about something, they'll say, you know what, give us less less free lunches and uh you know, if the manager respected me more, I you know blah blah that kind of thing. So you that doesn't buy affection and that doesn't buy much of anything except you create an environment where people understand that we're sharing it together, you know, kind of thing. And and I say to my people, listen, I get to sit in really good seats, okay? When I go to ball games and I get to and I've been fortunate to sit in really good seats when I go to concerts. I want other people in the business to be able to share that. And so we do that a lot in our business. We'll get a suite for a Beyonce concert. We'll get a suite for a Yankee game. And then people will email me and they'll say, "I took my father. He's been a Yankee fan all his life. He's never been to Yankee Stadium." Or or somebody will will tell me, "My son is an AAOU basketball player. He's 16 years old. He's, you know, the colleges are talking to him and he's never been to a pro basketball game." We'll get that. And there's enormous amount of pride for me to be able to do that. So, so those are the things that make me happy. Quite frankly, I will tell you my kids make me happy as well. And both my kids are uh are doing noble things. and I have a great wife of 37 years who uh also makes me happy. So, so those are I don't want to say those are the givens but those are the foundation but in terms of you know my career and the things that I do um those are the two things that that that I get enormous satisfaction out of and uh I plan on keeping doing it for a long time. So until 120 like they say keep going strong, keep kicking. >> There you go. >> I want to ask you one final question. So, thinking back on your career, your personal life, your community involvement, um, and you were meeting yourself at the age of 28 years old with the whole life in front of you, unsure exactly how it would pan out. What would you tell yourself, um, that you would, what's the single most important message that you would tell yourself to be successful going forward? I have no regrets. I I really feel that way very strongly. Um, and um, uh, I would say I would tell people there's books written about how to say no, okay? You know, to say no to things. I'm the opposite of that. Uh, I say yes to things too much. I'm overcommitted. That's where, you know, you know, you don't you don't know under what rock the gold's going to be found. And, um, and so I would tell people, go to the meeting, show up. um you know you you just don't know where it's going to happen. Don't don't go with an agenda. Go because it's the right thing to do or just because you know somebody asked to have a meeting don't analyze it. Just say yeah okay fine and you know if it pans out great and if it doesn't so what you you'll always learn something. So I think that's and that is the advice that I give to young people. you know, my kids are in their early 30s, so a lot of our friends have kids shifting career, you know, switching careers and thinking about doing this or that. And so they can they speak to you and that's the advice that I that I get. I give that piece of advice and I also give the piece of advice. Don't ne I hate networking. I I I I really do I because when you're networking, you're talking to somebody and then you're figuring out who else to talk to. Don't network. just do do join a a charity board or advisory board or whatever because you think it'll be interesting and you think you'll learn something and and good things will happen from that. Uh I firmly believe that. So that's that would be that would be what I would tell my 28-year-old self because I probably told it to a 28-year-old in the last week or two. So >> it has been amazing and enjoyable to talk to you and I wish you lots of success. Seems like you're just starting. So some sometimes how do they say sometimes I feel that >> how do they say in Judaism we should go from strength to strength. Really appreciate you coming on the podcast. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate the time. >> Thank you for listening to Jewish Grit and Ol mentorship podcast. At OM mentorship we believe that everyone needs a mentor. What better way is there to tap into your personal and professional potential than with a Jewish mentor at your side? Learn more at oli.org/mentorship. Don't forget to keep listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your