The anti-Adam Neumann of the co-working industry
livemint.comWeWork founder Adam Neumann sat across from Jamie Hodari on brown leather seats. They were in a private plane headed to Atlanta. Neumann, the charismatic billionaire founder of WeWork, grilled his buttoned-up, awkward seatmate about the success of his rival firm, Industrious, while the two chief executives sipped Bloody Marys.
That was episode five of “WeCrashed," the Apple TV+ miniseries drama depicting WeWork’s theatrical fall. In real life, Hodari isn’t exactly as he was portrayed in the show. But in many ways, he is indeed something of an anti-Adam Neumann.
Where Neumann is famous for his larger than life personality, brash risk-taking and grand ambitions—he briefly turned WeWork into an everything company with a mission statement to “elevate the world’s consciousness"—Hodari has been content to work on a variety of different jobs, often out of the public eye. “I kind of liked being played as the nerdy, serious foil," Hodari said of his miniseries face-off with Neumann. His career path has included stops as a reporter for the Times of India, an attorney at the white-shoe law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, and a founder of an experimental university in Rwanda.
The Industrious CEO has also taken a very different approach to his current business, shared office space. WeWork grew rapidly by signing long-term office leases and renting out that workspace on a short-term basis. Under Neumann’s leadership, the company expanded to more than 30 countries and was once valued at $47 billion.
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