“How to create a fantastic work culture” with Nate Martin Co-Founder & CEO of Puzzle Break

As a part of my series about about how leaders can create a “fantastic work culture”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nate Martin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Puzzle Break, the first American escape room company. Founded in 2013, Puzzle Break is headquartered in Seattle with locations in New York, Massachusetts and on Royal Caribbean ships. He is a Business Journal 40-Under-40 honoree.

Martin is a frequent lecturer on the topics of escape rooms, interactive entertainment, design, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He maintains a blog where he discusses those subjects and more. His interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, MarketWatch, and countless other outlets. He was profiled by MSNBC’s Your Business where he was first dubbed the “Founding Father of Escape Rooms.”

A graduate of the DigiPen Institute of Technology, he was a senior executive at Microsoft and Electronic Arts prior to Puzzle Break. He has shipped software used by billions of users as well as some of the most beloved video games of a generation.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

My career is a story of game making and problem solving, arguably the two largest elements of Escape Rooms! From my college education in computer science, software engineering, and game design through my role as senior executive at a Fortune 500, my job has either been creating fun, solving problems, or (usually) both. In 2013, I learned about the Real Life Room Escape phenomenon that was starting to emerge in Asia and Europe, and everything changed for me. I was transfixed; it was everything I love rolled into one business. I knew I had to bring the concept to the American market before it was too late. Puzzle Break opened its doors in August 2013 on a shoestring budget, and the rest is history.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I love playing escape rooms. Love. I dream of playing escape rooms. I’ve played over 350 to date across over a dozen countries. I’m frequently recognized by folks in the industry when I show up to play. Which, while super flattering, is a double-edged sword. I like to take my time in an escape room environment and I don’t always succeed in escaping. The look of disappointed-but-respectfully-trying-to-hide-it from folks that who expect me to crush every room I encounter only to see me fail is permanently etched in my brain.

Are you working on any exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We *never* stop working on exciting projects! Several Puzzle Break experiences are in various stages of development, including ones that will live on the Royal Caribbean Cruise fleet. There’s some really thrilling technology we’re tinkering with that is going to blow people away. Our mandate is to bring the most amount of fun to the most amount of people, and it’s a responsibility that everyone at Puzzle Break takes very seriously.

Ok, lets jump to the main part of our interview. According to this study cited in Forbes, more than half of the US workforce is unhappy. Why do you think that number is so high?

That’s a *huge* question! I’m certain that there are hundreds/thousands of factors across the spectrum of capitalism, so I’ll try and speak to what I know and leave the remainder to experts in other fields.

As a Xennial (walking the line between Generation X and Millennial), there’s unhappy-aggravating factors that I see both unique to certain workers in certain situations, and more broadly universal factors. The biggest Millennial/GenY problem is that the entire system is rigged unfairly against them. Volumes of books have been written about the impacts of the Great Recession, and I think we can draw a straight line from it to Millennial/GenY professional unhappiness. The youngest among us did not have the resources to properly endure a terrible thing they had no responsibility for creating. The repercussions persist through today like the ripples of a boulder hitting a lake, and I don’t blame those unfairly impacted with outsized punishment for being unhappy. One of the manifold repercussions of this inherent unfairness is often an unhappy culture at work.

Based on your experience or research, how do you think an unhappy workforce will impact a) company productivity b) company profitability c) and employee health and wellbeing?

All 3 of these are inextricably linked as far as I’m concerned. If my employees are unhappy, they will provide a worse service for our customers. If our customers receive worse service, our profitability takes a hit. If our profitability takes a hit, we have less resources to improve employee wellbeing. It’s a vicious cycle that every company should avoid at all costs.

Can you share 5 things that managers and executives should be doing to improve their company work culture? Can you give a personal story or example for each?

1. If you see something, say something. Never forget that the buck stops with you. If a subordinate is acting in a way that will negatively impact work culture, the onus is on you to fix it before the problem grows. Making your life easier by avoiding difficult conversations is the fastest way to work culture disaster.
2. Be the person you want your employees to be. This is an equally hot tip for both managers and literally everyone in society. The simple act of living the values you expect from others is peerless when it comes to managing, inspiring, and teaching others. Before I became a CEO, I worked under managers who embodied the opposite ends of this spectrum. The first was a case study of “do as I say not as I do”. His behavior never matched that of what he expected from his employees, and his team was plagued with low morale. At Microsoft, I was blessed with two managers who were awe-inspiring. They not only talked the talk, they walked the walk. I was constantly inspired to be better and was able to closely observe how they were so successful and learn from them.
3. Empower. If you’re a manager, there’s always going to be sub-optimal stuff going on that’s not on your radar. It is on the radar of someone below you, and if they don’t have the authority to fix it, everyone has a problem. Not only can it kill productivity, it can demolish morale. This is a common issue with startups that experience rapid growth. When it was 2 people in a garage, the 2 most junior employees had complete knowledge and complete authority. When those 2 co-founders suddenly have 50 employees, it can be extremely hard to delegate decision making authority.
4. Explicitly foster respectful behavior. Another lifehack for all members of society including managers. Being polite costs nothing. As appropriate, implement a reward system that incentivizes employees treating each other well. The return on investment for being nice to your fellow humans is literally infinite. I constantly witness folks at senior-ish career levels exhibit boorish behavior and silently wonder how much further along they’d be in their careers if they took a second to think before they spoke. And happier.
5. Never forget that everyone has their own career. We are all the protagonists in our own stories. A tremendously easy way to improve work culture is to simply remember that we’re all in this together. All our co-workers successes are ours. All their failures are ours too, and we can help shoulder the burden. A culture where we’re all in it together is a successful one.

It’s very nice to suggest ideas, but it seems like we have to “change the culture regarding work culture”. What can we do as a society to make a broader change in the US workforce’s work culture?

The biggest bang for the buck *and* something everyone in society can do: Put yourself in their shoes. Dealing with a difficult customer? Put yourself in their shoes. Manager being disrespectful? Put yourself in their shoes. Guy on the bus has a huge backpack and keeps bumping into you? Put yourself in their shoes. Employee screwing up the same thing over-and-over? Put yourself in their shoes.

Not only will this practice immediately lower toxic aggravation, it enables us as citizens to approach situations from other angles, which can frequently lead to elegant solutions!

How would you describe your leadership or management style? Can you give us a few examples?

I’m not certain I could boil my style into one comprehensive descriptor, but the biggest that comes to mind is Participative/Democratic Leadership. There is *so* much I don’t know. You could fill the Grand Canyon with the stuff I’m ignorant about. The biggest benefit of a strong leadership structure & team is that you don’t have to know everything! I leverage this strength daily in Puzzle Break’s strategic & tactical planning. I include all members of my team in decisions that not only affect them, but about which they’re the expert. This not only enables us to make the best decisions, it helps my team members feel valued. This is a huge part of a positive work culture.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

This is a long list; I’ve been very fortunate. Joe Swart and Matt Bielman come to mind, two of my Microsoft managers. I started at Microsoft when I was 23. I was young, (more) stupid (than now), and rough around the edges. I wouldn’t want to work with 23-year-old Nate. But they took the time and energy to help me grow my skills that have enabled me to achieve the professional success I enjoy today. The alternate timeline where they didn’t invest in me is a dark one.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

We operate a fun factory at Puzzle Break. Every day the entire team works to bring joy and togetherness to folks across the globe. I like to think we’re leaving the world a little more pleasant than when we found it. We also donate lots of experiences to charity!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: “Don’t open your mouth without putting yourself in their shoes first.”

Nearly all of the interpersonal conflict I witness is utterly and completely avoidable. All you gotta do is shut up, think about where the other person(s) is coming from, and factor that into your line of thinking. This applies to managing teams, running companies, successful relationships, family, the DMV, you name it. Not only does this avoid unforced errors, it’s a shift from a society of “me” to a society of “us”, and that’s a win for everybody.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The movement already exists in Bhutan. They have an actual, factual Gross National Happiness index! They measure the actual, factual collective happiness and well-being of their population. This is a stunningly good idea that should be explored internationally. If we solve for Happiness, the rest is gravy.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success!