The Jedburgh Podcast #026: Eat The Change - Seth Goldman
Driving change begins with the need to build something you believe in. Seth Goldman is the founder and Chief Change Agent at Eat The Change. He is also the Chairman of the Board at Beyond Meat and the Co-founder and former Tea-EO of Honest Tea.
Seth joins this episode to break down entrepreneurism, how to build something from nothing and how the nine characteristics of elite performance are required to scale and exit a successful business.
Seth also shares his 3-P's of Entrepreneurship, how the Boston Red Sox taught him important lessons on resilience and adaptability, the selection process for choosing the right business partner, and how entrepreneurs cannot delegate anything in the very beginning.
Seth and Fran also discuss his New York Times bestseller Mission in a Bottle, written with Honest Tea Co-Founder Professor Barry Nalebuff, and Seth’s newest initiatives around plant-based burgers and mushroom jerky!
Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website.
Highlights:
-Seth quantifies ‘drive’ and the need to be all-in on the risks behind starting a business; including his journey at Honest Tea which he started and led for 21 years from nothing to sales of over 100 million units/year and acquisition by Coca-Cola.
-Seth explains his 3-P’s of Entrepreneurship, the need to remain resilient and adaptable, and the importance of being fiscally responsible.
-Fran presses Seth on his most challenging moments building Honest Tea and Eat the Change, and what he learned from each of these experiences.
-Team ability and partnership define Seth’s career as an entrepreneur. He shares his lessons on role clarity, how to pick the right business partner, and how he selects his team.
-Seth shares insights into his new initiative creating mushroom jerky and plant-based burgers alongside Chef Spike Mendelsohn.
Quotes:
-“Change is about moving from where we are to where we should be. It’s an aspirational vision.”
-“You can’t wait for the world to change. You must be changing it.”
-”Every time we eat a meal we have a chance to make an impact.”
-“For all entrepreneurs we have to be optimists. You wouldn’t start something if you didn’t have the hope that it would work out.”
-”The most important resource an entrepreneur has isn’t time…it’s energy.”
-”If I had said I can only get in with a big distributor the business wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.”
-”Understand the terrain. Understand your tools. Don’t try to compete with someone else’s tools.”
-”Can a business be a vehicle for change? If we are meeting the consumers' needs then we get to pursue the issues we care about.”
-“Unless you have humility, you are not really going to empower your team.”
-”As long as there is clarity of roles then co-founders can be great...As long as we have clarity of roles then we can be complementary to each other.”
Seth’s Three Daily Foundations to Success
-Make the bed with my wife to achieve something together.
-Exercise to clear my head and connect with myself.
-Do what I say I am going to do.
This episode is brought to you by Analytix Solutions; improving the efficiency of your business across people, process and technology through multi-divisional outsourcing solutions.