We’re only on Episode 2 (A Line in the Sand) of Summer House Season 7 and I have so many thoughts. In this episode, we see Kyle Cooke & Carl Radke have a real talk about their current work relationship.
This is what I am observing:
- Kyle is frustrated with Carl’s lack of commitment and passion for his role at Loverboy. I think this is valid.
- Carl is expressing that he is not happy in his current role and would like to reassess his position with the business. I think this is also valid.
- However, instead of Kyle valuing Carl in general, he’s getting upset that Carl is not providing the value that he had expected to gain from Carl in his existing role. Understandable but there are ways to address this that do not involve blaming his employee’s romantic relationship.
- Kyle’s frustration leads to (what seemed like) an intoxicated rant about Carl on camera in front of others. As a boss, I feel this is unprofessional. As someone who has struggled with mental health and substance abuse, I find this to be devastating from Carl’s standpoint.
1. First and foremost, Kyle and Carl are supposed to be friends. For Kyle to bring up Carl’s prior struggles feels like a low blow and not something someone would do to someone they truly care about.
2. Secondly, this behavior from a boss is embarrassingly unprofessional and is definitely not a good look for future employees, shareholders, and board of directors (especially if you are trying to scale and grow.)
If I was in Kyle’s situation, I would do the following:
1. Assess MY feelings that are coming up with the frustration we’re seeing. What is it that is truly affecting Kyle’s emotions to feel anger and/or sadness? This will help Kyle understand what his exact expectations are from Carl from a work standpoint and separate that from his friendship status. My guess is that Kyle has big dreams with Loverboy and he expects Carl’s motivation to be at the same level as his. This is understandably something that would be disappointing for Kyle and he may realize that it actually hurts him that Carl does not share the same dream as him. However, this is a situation where Kyle needs to dig deep on his own and be very clear about what his vision is so that he can separate work needs and his friend’s needs.
2. Have a meeting with Carl and ask more questions about what CARL wants for his life and his future. Employees don’t want to be seen as another number by their employer. Especially when your employer is your friend. Since we’ve started watching Carl on Summer House, we’ve seen him party hard, lose his brother to substance abuse, become sober, and find the love of his life. As Carl’s boss (and friend), Kyle should absolutely be cognizant of his employee’s major life changes and be supportive of whatever is in store for Carl’s next chapter whether that’s with Loverboy or not.
3. Knowing that Carl is now sober, I would be looking at options to scale by utilizing Carl’s strengths and experience. Why can’t everything they’re already doing be applied to a new line of Loverboy drinks that are non-alcoholic? Mocktail RTDs (Ready To Drink) are trending in the beverage industry and this seems like a huge missed opportunity.
That’s just ONE creative idea to solve this specific issue. If I were consulting for Loverboy, I would have all these discussions with Kyle and Carl individually to hear both sides out and then come together to discuss potential solutions going forward.
I’m not saying my idea of starting a new non-alcoholic line of Loverboy is the answer (plus we all know Carl has left the company anyway). But as a reflection on what we’re seeing and what we know now, I feel like things could have been handled differently so that all parties involved were happy with their work decisions and not hurt each other. I hope they at least stay friends. 🥺
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