67: Kat Cole, COO and President of FOCUS Brands

This week it was a pleasure to have one of the best and most thoughtful operators in the country join us - Kat Cole, COO and President of North America for Focus Brands. Focus Brands - while unknown to many consumers as a parent company - owns companies that are mainstay language in most American households - Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's, Moe's, Jamba Juice and more.

In this conversation we explored two big themes: operating and brand building. We spent the first half unpacking operating principles: (1) how to change mindsets, (2) how to evaluate compelling opportunities, (3) solving for being right vs. being curious, (4) curiosity and humility as the foundation for courage and confidence, (5) possibility vs. positivity filters and unpacked each through examples. In the second half we dove into all things brand - namely, how to build, differentiate and sustain brand.

We rounded out the conversation with Kat’s sources of learning and ground truth motto she lives by. This was one of the most knowledge packed conversations we have had and it was fun to have Kat on the show.