Full Transcript

Sari 0:00
Remember when you thought launching your business would be the hardest part? That was so cute. Now you're working day and night, running around in a panic, wearing all the hats and feeling like you're throwing spaghetti at the wall. Does that sound familiar? Well, I have got just the thing to turn your hot mess business into a beautiful one you love, Master Your Business 2025 is now open for applications. This is my next level program that is guaranteed, with a money back guarantee, to transform you from frazzled maker to confident CEO. We're talking systems, financials and actions that will make your business work without you there. This program isn't just about short term fixes, it's a year long investment in your business's long term success and sustainability. If you want your business to be around in 2025 and 26 and 27, you have to create solid foundations. If you're ready to transition from constant firefighting to strategic leadership, I invite you to apply. There's no commitment to applying. We'll get on a call, make sure it's the right fit for both of us, but a CEO, when they hear something that resonates with them, takes action. Go to masteryourbiz.co to apply today, because if 2025 is a make or break year, or if you're trying to avoid that situation altogether, get your application in. There are huge bonuses when you apply by October 5th that you do not want to look back on and regret not taking this small action. Go to masteryourbiz.co apply there, and let's make 2025 the year your business finally works and loves you back.

Sari 2:05
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the packaged food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in and food founder journey, so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey. Now let's jump in!

Sari 2:55
Welcome back to the podcast. I'm so happy you are here, and we are continuing our CEO series. I wanted to talk about the CEO mind, the brain, the brilliant, amazing brain that you all have that we just need to mold and turn into a CEO brain. Maybe not all the time, but some of the time we need to be putting in our CEO brain. So I had a couple of concepts that I wanted to talk about, and so we're going to put them all together. And I like this concept of, I think it fits under kind of creating the CEO brain. And so I consulted the Googles, as I sometimes do, just to kind of verify, confirm, like this is what I'm thinking, but what is out there that maybe I'm missing, or just to be sure I'm on the right track? So fortunately, I was confirmed, and I was looking at the Harvard Business Review, and they did a pretty large study, a survey with successful CEOs from very large companies to smaller companies. And they had a couple of things that really helped set apart a successful CEO. Fortunately, they were exactly what I was thinking. Amazing how that happens. So let's get into it. So the first one is deciding, making decisions with speed and conviction, and that's what the Harvard Business Review said. And I would agree that making decisions is your number one thing that you need to do as a CEO. And I can't tell you how many people, founders I talk to that are like I am in analysis paralysis. I don't know how to make decisions. I go back on my decisions. I'm waffling all the time. This is a really big issue, and I'm telling you, if you can just become a great decision maker, you are halfway there. This is everything. Now, I think sometimes this is just my own experience being in business now for gosh, 2016 so my gosh, almost eight years, which is wild, but I think sometimes there's this pressure on us to be like, make decisions like immediately. And I just want to clarify that speed does not mean immediately, like in the moment make a decision, but it does mean like, putting some dates on it and a reasonable time frame. In fact, the Harvard Business Review found that only 6% of CEOs received low marks because they made decisions too quickly, and 94% of CEOs scored low because they decided too little too late, so by other people right in their organization. So that tells me, that confirms what I see as true when I talk to you, that we are not making decisions fast enough, and those of us who are maybe making decisions too hastily, we might need to get a little bit more information. So it's this balance of like, how do you get the information that you need and put some deadlines on it. So in the CEO Conversations that I did a couple weeks ago, I actually worked through, I talked through a framework that I helped explain. Like, here's how I believe you can make decisions as a CEO.

Sari 6:45
So the first thing is define the results that you actually want. We don't want to be making small, little decisions, petty decisions in a vacuum. Like, should I get QuickBooks, or should I switch providers or suppliers, should I join this program? Should I do this? Like we're inundated with services and options all the time, but I want you to step back and say, what's the higher level thing that I'm trying to achieve here? What is the result that I'm actually going for? And I will say that this question can be really challenging for people, because we're not used to thinking about like stepping back and really looking at that longer term vision and saying, you know, does this small decision? You know, there are big decisions and small decisions, of course, but this small decision in this example, does it actually go contribute towards the bigger result, the vision that I'm trying to create? And so this is where coaching comes in handy so much. You guys heard on the CEO conversations, a couple of coaching calls that I had on last week where we were talking about just that I was helping to tease that out of them, like what is it you're actually trying to achieve here, right? Before we just because we, our brain just loves to give us, like, all these little, small decisions, and we need to step back and look at the results first. So that's number one.

Sari 8:19
And I highly recommend if you get stuck on this question, come and get coaching. You're so in it, and I can see what's going on and the bigger picture, and ask you the right questions. Okay, so you define the result, then what is the date that you're going to make a decision by. We need to constrain ourselves. We talked about constraint on a previous episode, and we can do this by setting deadlines. So saying something like, I'm going to decide this in the next week by this date. And one of the things that I offer a lot of times is people will come to me and say all these things, and we make decisions, or like, we evaluate at least, and we say, okay, when is this decision going to be made by? This now forces us to get into action and really start doing the work in not just in our head, but actually, like out there in the world. So the next thing is to brainstorm, what are all the options that you could do, and are you sure you know all of the options? So what's interesting is that the best leaders, the best CEOs, actually take a little bit longer to gather all of the information, like they make sure that they understand what are all my options? And the next thing is, what is the information that I'm missing? And so understanding those two things and doing a little bit more due diligence on the front end and then, but having a date that constrains you so you're working, you're moving, you're going faster, and then you're able to say, okay, I have all the options. I have all the information, and maybe not all the information. 70% of the information is what we're going for here. And really thinking to yourself, like, how can I find this? Asking yourself, who do I know, who has done this before? Who do I know I could ask and skip the line that feels more true than just like, let me just Google it forever, right? And that's what happens so much. Maybe we pull too many people who don't really know they're not the right people. So we just ask everybody, our mom, our grandpa, our friends, people who don't know this industry, who don't know your business, don't understand the landscape. So making sure we're, you know, asking the right who's and filling in the information you really want to understand what resources of time, money and energy will be required for each of these options. So give yourself a little bit of time again. We don't need to make decisions immediately, but put some constraint on it. Get to work, start answering the questions that your brain's giving you, right? And then I like to do a check in with my body at that point, I've gotten all the information, again, 70% of the information. You're never going to know if you have all the information, but you feel like, yeah, I have the information that I need to make a decision, check in with your body. What feels fun? What feels like a heck yes? You heard in the conversation last week with Kirate, like there's no wrong decisions here, it's just, what are you going to actually follow through on? What are you going to be more excited to go after? That's where you want to go. Because we kind of like to just sit with like, well, I got three ways I could go, and instead of making the wrong decision, I'm just going to sit here in indecision, and that is the the worst way to go, right? And the Harvard Business Review said high performing CEOs understand that a wrong decision is often better than no decision at all. And just by getting into action, we're starting to, like, problem solve, and we can make new decisions, and we can, like, keep it going. We feel the momentum, and that feels really good. But choosing things, like, if all options are equal.

Sari 12:59
This whole becoming a CEO thing can be a little daunting, especially if you've never done it before, and you are just so focused on being the maker of your product. But your business requires you to step into the role of a CEO. But if you want help, I have a CEO checklist that you can go and grab for free, go to foodbizsuccess.com/CEO. This will help you to understand what you need to be doing each week when you put on your CEO hat. The more you can make time to work on your business and not just be in your business, the faster you will be able to grow and scale and create the business you love.

Sari 13:55
And even if they're unequal, if there's an option that you're like, well, I mean, that clearly would be the better way to go, but I don't want to do any of that that feels horrible. Then do not choose that one. You will be okay to choose the one that feels exciting, that feels fun, that feels like a heck yes. So I give you permission for you to not just do what everybody thinks you should do, but for you to also check in with you as your best guide, this is such an important point. Like, we have to be able to rely on our inner knowing, our inner wisdom. And I know that's maybe like, not quite just the like business coach of like, let's just look at the pros and cons. But I think this is a valuable piece of making the decisions that you're going to stick with and live with, because once we make the decision, we do not want to waver. We want to press ahead. Now sometimes we make decisions where we say, I'm going to do this for the next three months, the next six months, the next year, and in that time, I am not going to question the decision. I am going to have my own back, right? I am just the decision has been made. Moving ahead. It does no good to question it, to go back on it. And the HBR said employees and other key constituents will quickly lose faith in leaders who waffle or backtrack once a decision is made. So sticking to your conviction of your decision, decision literally means to kill off, to cut off. You are cutting off other options. You're constraining, and that's where we actually can see traction in our businesses, where things actually get done when we make these kind of decisions. So I just cannot emphasize enough the power and how you need to work on building up your decision making skills and capability and do this with small things to start with, right? It doesn't have to be these big decisions. Maybe just start with small little ones and work through this framework. Or better yet, come and join us in master your business and get coaching on all of this. This is where we make decisions as CEOs and follow these frameworks.

Sari 16:25
The second trait, the inside the brain of a successful CEO is your ability to adapt and to kind of go with the flow and be really resilient. The HBR said that our analysis shows that CEOs who excel at adapting are 6.7 times more likely to succeed. I would like to take that bet, that this skill is so critical to you being able to roll with things, not take things personally, get to problem solving, which is just a series of making decisions. We had our call this last week with Steven Adele, the author of Ready Set Scale, and he was doing the five pillars of scaling, and we were talking at the end about problems and how, you know, we just have all of these problems to solve. And like every business just it's like, the bigger you get, the more successful you are, the bigger your problems get. And I love it. He threw out this word, problems are just opportunities or propertunities, and we all love that. So the new word we're going to use the Master Your Business is propertunities, and we can actually look at problems. Part of being resilient is not every time when there's a problem, you're like, oh, it's a problem. Everything's falling apart. It's like, oh, a new problem. This is actually where the opportunity is, sometimes our problems are the things that lead us to the best solutions, that help us pivot a little bit. You know, that word gets overused a lot, but to help us, like make shifts and changes, and it's actually in the solving of the problem that the best ideas, the best innovation can come out. I mean, imagine how boring this would be if you were just like, I'm going to start a business, and then, oh, poof, it's just successful, and I have no problems. First of all, we'd all be in business. Not 5% of the population choosing to be successful entrepreneurs, everybody would just be like, well, if it's that easy, right? It's not easy. And increasing this trait and being more resilient and adaptability. And in fact, it reminds me, I have a whole presentation. I think I did that Fall of just last year, Fall 23 and if you go to foodbizsuccess.com/thrive, you can grab that presentation for free. And it's a really great like, really talking about resiliency and this whole growth mindset that Carol Dweck introduced to us a number of years ago, but we need to be, like, looking at these things without, like, oh, it's the worst thing ever. Instead, like, okay, interesting. Curious how I'm going to solve this, right? Like, where is the growth in this? And the more we do it, the easier it gets, and then the more we do it, and this is how we get momentum and speed in our business, if we're just, like, easier about problems. And I throw that word out a lot, I'm like, oh, like, things will come up. And I'm like, Oh, another problem. I just don't make it mean anything. I don't want to attach a story about my own self worth and how this means I'm never going to succeed, right? I'm just like, oh, yeah, of course, there's a new problem to solve. That's what we do. That's how we go, right? That's what we do as CEOs. And the HBR pointed out that as the CEO, you almost want to be proactively adaptable. So in the moment as problems are coming up, yes, but also they said 50% of your energy really needs to be focused on that future vision, holding that in place and really getting ahead of like, what could go wrong here, right? That is part of the CEO brain is to be, yes, sometimes in the present and maybe looking at the past, but much of your, of your energy should be continually looking ahead. You are the captain of the ship when you put on that CEO hat, and you want to be thinking like, I'm not just looking, we'll use the ship analogy, right? I'm not just looking at, like, not looking behind me all the time, that would be ridiculous. I'm not just looking at, like, what's directly in front of me. Sometimes I am, but as the captain of the ship, I am looking way out there. I'm looking at, am I off course? Right? Like, where are we going? And so 50% of the time should be spent on that. And I think that's really spot on. And that is how we solve problems faster. That's how we avoid things, heartaches and problems and things ahead of time. When possible, it's not always possible. Sometimes things happen that are bigger than us and we don't have any control over it. But there are a lot of things we do have control over, and if we are willing to, like, continually keep our eyes out there on the horizon, towards our vision, then we're going to be so much better at solving problems and having that adaptability.

Sari 22:06
The third thing is reliability. And I love this one, I'm going to actually like use discipline as a big piece of this, because the more discipline that you can become with yourself, the more reliable you will be to other people. And HBR said, a stunning 94% of the strong CEO candidates we analyze scored high on consistently following through on their commitments. And that, I think, is so true, and it starts with you. Last week, I talked about morning routine as kind of that gateway to developing discipline, that we do things even when we don't feel like it, and that's kind of all a CEO does, right? They're doing things that are hard. They're doing things that they probably don't want to do all the time, and the better you can get at it as a leader, not because anybody's forcing you to, because you don't have a boss. You are the boss. And the more you can get ahead of things, the more you can be disciplined and follow through, the more successful you will be. So that when cash flow, you know work on cash flow is on your calendar, on that Monday or whatever day you put it on, that you're going to be like, I don't really want to do that. Or I have to do that. Maybe I'll do it later like, nope, it's on my calendar. I said I would do it. I'm doing it, right? And the more we can build that muscle of discipline, the more reliable we will be to ourselves, which creates self trust that no matter what, I will follow through for me, which then also creates this reliability to the outside world. Just think about it for yourself. The people who you know will follow through are the people you want to do business with, right? And so become that person. And the last one I want to talk about is that a CEO recognizes in their brain that they do not know everything. They only have their past experiences to rely on, and in most cases, you guys listening have never done this before, and so it becomes that much more important that you go and seek outside sources to help you make decisions and help you understand the bigger picture. And part of it is that when you are the CEO, and again, you could be a CEO of you know of a solopreneurship, but we're going to put on our CEO hat. When you acting as a CEO, and I'm holding up my hands in a triangle if you're on the video for YouTube, and when you are at the top, you are the top little triangle as the CEO, and it is very lonely up there. You are often operating in a total silo, right? You are in a vacuum. You know, I often hear from founders like, I feel like I'm just throwing spaghetti at a wall. I don't know, like, if this is the right decision, again, coming back to decisions. And so it becomes that much more important for you to develop, I think creating your own board of advisors, and you can just do this informally. Yes, bigger businesses will have, like, a formal board of advisors, and you may want to do that at some point. Typically, in that situation, advisors would have some kind of stake in your company, whether it's financial payment or it could be equity. But right now, think about who would be the best people to be on my kind of informal board of advisors, and I'll just suggest a couple of roles that I think would be really helpful, but this helps us to get outside of our vacuum, outside of our little silo, and really understand a bigger picture. And it's going to help us make decisions that we feel more confident in. And I think choosing your board of advisors carefully is very important. So I will just say that first and foremost, I think having a coach on your board of advisors, somebody who can help you with the mindset stuff, so somebody, I think like a mindset coach and then a business coach, and I just happen to be both, but I would love to be on your informal board of advisors, helping you. But people who can really question, like your motives, and why are you doing this, and is it aligned to your vision, and are we just acting out of fear and some of those things. So those would be a role, maybe two roles that you would have on your board of advisors. I also think having one or two or three additional like CEOs, it's similar kind of growth, like similar stages, can be really useful for you guys to you almost need, like, somebody you can commiserate with that really understands this, but also might be trying some different things that you haven't tried. So having somebody that you can have those conversations with and almost just like, oh my gosh, you know, I'm struggling. But be mindful of the type of personality, you want somebody that's, like, not going to just stay in the mud with you, but like, listen and then kind of reach down a hand and help pull you out and vice versa. That you can do that for the other person. I also think it's helpful to have a CEO mentor that is further along than you, but not so far along that they have forgotten all the things at your stage of business. So there is something about hanging out with people who are farther along than you, and you know the people who are where you want to be, but maybe don't go, like, I mean, this is a crazy example, but you know, if you're early stage business, you're under even, like, you know, ten million and you're like, I want my mentor to be Justin of Justin's Nut Butter. That's maybe not the best fit. You want to find somebody that's maybe more like in the, I don't know, 20 million range or something, right? Like can giving you the next step, and I would just offer that if you're going to seek out mentors and colleagues that in that place where they're further along than you, you're asking them for something. But can you also give to somebody who's, you know, at a lower stage of business than you, right? That you can maybe reach down and help lift a hand up so that you're giving and receiving. So having some colleagues that are also CEOs can be really helpful. And then I think having people who are more on the like industry side, people who really understand the industry. So, you know, a business coach like myself could be cover some of that, but you also might want people who really understand like the regulatory or certain areas of your business, like distribution or manufacturing, production, sales, things like that, who you can ask really specific questions, and they are like boots on the ground in this industry. And then, of course, financial, legal disciplines like that, that you can ask these questions of to make sure you are in compliance, and that you are doing the best financial practices possible and being compliant and legal. So those are some of the people I would consider to be on your board of advisors as an early stage startup. And again, being very mindful, like we don't just want to ask anybody their opinion, we want to ask the right people their opinions. And so getting outside of yourself, recognizing you don't know it all, you can't know it all. You are coachable, and you're going to take all of this information, and then ultimately you are going to be the final decision maker, and then you're going to have your own back, right? So, so important, all right, that is what I have for you today. Go out start taking small actions to build up the brain, create the mindset of a successful CEO, and until next time, have an amazing week!