GoodWorks New General Manager, Thomas Crow, Talks Carrying On Samuel Cornthwaite's Legacy

It's a tall order to take up, but Thomas Crow is more than eager to get started. The 31-year-old American expat is stepping in as the new general manager of GoodWorks Coffee & Tea after the tragic recent passing of its co-founder, renowned food and beverage connoisseur, and socially conscious entrepreneur Samuel Cornthwaite. Samuel's sister, Hannah, announced Crow's new role on September 20 in a WeChat group that was initially formed to raise funds for Samuel's medical expenses, when he was suffering from acute pancreatitis before it became fatal. In the message she wrote: "We [the Cornthwaite family] are really excited and truly believe he [Crow] can help us move GoodWorks forward."

Below, Crow tells us more about his initial plans for GoodWorks, how he became involved, and how he hopes to carrying on Samuel's legacy.

How does it feel to be taking over GoodWorks?
You know, I want to be really clear about GoodWorks and my involvement. GoodWorks is a community and most, if not all, of our specific goals, short- and long-term, are around enhancing the quality of life for some often overlooked communities. Before I came along there was a community of people dedicated to Sam, GoodWorks or both, who had been collaborating on piecing together the puzzle that Sam left behind, and they're still working on it as we speak. These people aren't doing it for me, they're doing it for Sam, for GoodWorks, and for a better future for marginalized communities in China. So, I really struggle with the idea of "taking over" GoodWorks.

Instead, I see it more as me taking point, taking the lead, in GoodWorks: acting as a facilitator and figuring out how to aggregate skills, knowledge, wisdom, and insights into Sam's goals and methods so we can move GoodWorks forward together in a way that does justice to his vision. It's more like GoodWorks has taken over me, and what I can offer, than it is the other way around, and I feel incredibly honored to have been swept up into this community of people doing unabashedly good things in brilliant ways. Sooner or later things will settle down, new systems will be in place, and I'll be doing the lion's share of it all. Maybe then I'll feel like I've "taken over," but I just can't right now.

How did you know Sam?
That's a good question, and the truth is we barely did. My husband and I left Beijing on bicycles a little over two months ago and had planned on cycling to Bali, Indonesia. A couple of weeks into our journey a good friend of ours (and our official furniture sponsor for the trip) Glenn Schuitman at Pop-up Beijing reached out and let us know he may have secured a coffee sponsorship for us. We'd been carting around bags of coffee beans from a big name coffee shop because, when we could find them, it was easy. We were thrilled at the idea of getting good beans, especially from an organization using them to do good things. Shortly after, Glenn reached out again and let us know it was a done deal.

The beans were on the way to our hotel in Hangzhou before we had any direct interaction with Sam. When we finally could make something work, we spent somewhere around an hour together on a Skype call and just totally bought into Sam and GoodWorks from the start. Sam was one of those guys that you just instantly connect with, and his vision was, again, brilliant and oh-so-good. When Sam passed, we flew back to Beijing on one-way tickets, and made some time to sit down to talk to the family with the idea of offering to step in if a contingency plan wasn't already in place. After a few chats everything was decided and here we are.

Why do you think Hannah decided that you'd be the right person for this job?
I'm not terribly keen to speculate about Hannah's decision making process, and the decision making process of the Cornthwaite family as a whole. I know that, with Sam's passing, they are going through things that we can't understand as outsiders, that there was a commitment, is a commitment, within the family to keep GoodWorks going. Beyond that, and beyond offering whatever support we can on a human level, it's of primary importance to me to make this transition as easy as possible on them. As someone who has lost a close family member suddenly, once upon a time, I find it incredibly important to trust their decision making process as individuals, and as a family unit, now more than ever. Simply, that is what I would have wanted. 

However, I can tell you why I think I'm the right person.

First, it's not just me. Beyond the community of people involved when I stepped into the picture, my husband is equally committed and brings with him years of experience in marketing, brand management, operations, strategy, and a highly developed C-level skill set, as well as a significant amount of experience in coaching in the personal and professional development realms. He'll be going back to work in order to support us while we rally around GoodWorks, but also simultaneously volunteering his considerable skill in a multitude of areas to support the growth of GoodWorks, and my personal and professional development as I work to push GoodWorks forward.

As for me specifically, well, GoodWorks is an obvious next step on my path of progression. My career started with a heavy emphasis on customer service, progressed into low-level operational roles starting in a not-for-profit focused on teen leadership and emotional intelligence programs, and then moved forward quite quickly from there – often stepping into roles in times of crisis or collapse and rebuilding in structured, process oriented ways. I've done it all, in many different industries, placing emphasis at the beginning in growing my skill set. Later my focus shifted to balancing skills growth and working with organizations who shared similar values, and finally congruent values became my sole driving factor. I have a well-rounded skill set, and I'm an operations minded generalist who cares, first and foremost, about organizational legacy.

What are some of your initial plans in order to carry on GoodWorks effectively?
Possibly ironically, given that I'm doing this interview right now, my primary goal is to position GoodWorks as an independent entity, with an organizational structure that allows it to stand on its own two legs, capable of growth – irrespective of who is holding the reins.

Doing that requires a divided focus between:

  • Developing relationships with people we're already partnered with. The food and beverage industry relies on quality relationships and higher quality products. We, GoodWorks, have the latter. Sam had the former, and I get to figure out a way to step in, to let people know who I am and what I'm about, and to establish that GoodWorks isn't going anywhere but up through this transition.
  • Getting to know Yunnanese coffee the way Sam did. Understanding the subtle notes – the honeys, the tobaccos, the walnuts, etc., – and learning how to tease them out of the beans so that, through our unique roasts, China's coffee enthusiasts get to discover for themselves why Sam felt so passionate about them. We have a roaster who is more than skilled at pulling these flavors out of our beans, but I feel like it is important for me to learn myself, as a way to connect with the very foundation of GoodWorks.

And, finally;

  • Honoring our current commitments at all costs, while developing our network slowly and strategically. It's natural for us to want to pull in right now, to hit the brakes and lick our wounds and take time to heal before moving forward in any direction. And that is one logical way to move forward, but we also have some really incredible opportunities directly in front of us that are too good to pass up, some collaborations with some big names in the Beijing food and beverage world, including Jim Boyce and all the people/venues responsible for, and participating in, Maovember, the annual month-long charity campaign hosted through different venues and events around the city whose theme is "many small donations, and small businesses, can yield big results." They have chosen GoodWorks as one of the charities Maovember will support and we are clearly thrilled.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Really just a few quick words of gratitude. I'm grateful to be doing this interview, to have the opportunity to let people know that GoodWorks will continue and work to honor Sam's legacy. I'm grateful for the trust of the Cornthwaite family and the people GoodWorks has partnered with at every step of the supply side. And I'm grateful for all of our supporters on the consumption side, both individuals and businesses. We live in a world where it isn't hard to "vote with your dollar," as we say in the States; to make sure that the money you spend goes to things you support, practices you believe in. The idea has been around for a long time, but until pretty recently it meant that you also had to compromise quality. Organizations like GoodWorks are exciting because they're continuing to pave the way, marrying quality products with quality practices that we can all get behind, and I'm just super grateful to be a part of it.

More stories by this author here.
Email: kylemullin@truerun.com
Twitter: @MulKyle
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Photos courtesy of Thomas Crow