Cameron Mitchell was a self-described “troubled teen” long before he built his now-thriving restaurant business. By the time he reached 10th grade, he was both using and selling drugs and was indifferent toward school. He lived alone with his mother, his dad having left when he was young. But he got cleaned up. Mitchell began working toward graduation and took a job washing dishes at a local steakhouse. That job was the beginning of a…
I’ve been lucky enough to share the stage with Howard Behar, the retired president of Starbucks and a close friend and mentor, on several occasions. Each time, I walk away with new lessons learned and a reignited desire to ensure the organizations I work with put some love back into leadership. That’s because Behar is insistent that love—compassion, empathy and human connection—is an essential ingredient to a company’s success. As he says, “There’s only one…
Greg Oden is one of only 73 people in the world who know what it feels like to be the number-one pick in the NBA draft. He’s also a two-time recipient of the Gatorade Player of the Year award and an All-American who helped lead Ohio State to the National Championship game, where they finished second, in 2007. Oden, who was 19 at the time, went on to the NBA draft and was selected as…
Not long ago, I wrote this article for Smart Business about my wife’s grandmother, who was in the habit of going to Wendy’s every day, for 20 years, to get her Diet Coke. When she pulled up to the drive-thru, the employees would wave her on down to the window; they already knew what she wanted, and that’s why she was there. It wasn’t about the Diet Coke. There are plenty of places she could’ve…
From the time she was a child, Jessica Jackley wondered what it meant to truly make a meaningful difference in another person’s life. She grew up in church and had many interactions with non-profits and NGOs over the years, but the act of giving back often left her wanting. She just didn’t see a noticeable way to do problem-solving work that truly moved the needle for those on the receiving end. And so, she co-founded…
Shane Battier has won everywhere. Over his 13-year career in the NBA, he not only achieved back-to-back championships, he was also a six-time divisional winner of the NBA Sportsmanship Award and was named an NBA Teammate of the Year. Previously, he played four years at Duke, winning the 2001 National Championship and taking home more than one Player of the Year awards. But if you ask him, he’ll tell you that everything he knows about…
