YouSaid · the spoken record

Kat Cole

lines on the record: 72
first: 2020-07-28
most recent: 2020-07-28
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“What is brand? And brand is the promise that a consumer believes that entity makes to them through how it communicates itself, which yes is logo and colors and marketing, but equally so, if not more so, is the experience every day with that brand. And then how that brand and its people and its manifestations in the market react when things happen, good or bad. And so it's this combination of what we say and what we do. And that leads to a set of beliefs about who we are as a brand. And therefore, what we then have permission to go do as a brand, which very literally extends to what stores should we be in, what formats can we produce, at what pricing tiers, with what quality standards, with which partners, in what countries, right? And just really, I love decoding everything.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Love the topic on any platform, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn for people who are on Clubhouse or any other groups where I show up. I love jamming on this topic. So what I've learned, and I actually started appreciating this back when I was bringing the Hooters franchise to multiple countries because that brand, the name of that brand does not translate into any language. It doesn't mean anything. And so, and it had an owl logo.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And we build those brands, so we grow by acquisition, we build the brands, we franchise them so we know IP, branding, franchising, multi-channel distribution. And I've been doing that for right around three years. And here we are today.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the creative approach we took to building this multi channel empire with Cinnabon. And then again, as the company grew, I grew, took over a group president role, running licensing, CPG, and e-com and manufacturing, and then continued my humanitarian work with the UN Foundation and their global entrepreneurs council, started angel investing at that point. So a third parallel path of my world and advising founders. And then three years ago became president and COO, so rolled up all of those channels. So then presidents of the nine businesses report directly to me. And that is with focus brands, the parent company of Cinnabon. And we are the owner and operator and franchisor of Cinebonne Antiens, Carvell, Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlatsky's McAllister's, and Jamba Juice, our latest acquisition and integration a year ago.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Revenue then remained an executive as we grew to 33 countries and just under 500 locations around the world. Those last two years I was at Hooters, I went back to school nights and weekends in an executive MBA program at Georgia State. So I have a master's without a bachelor's. I also started my global humanitarian work right around that time, started doing work in Rwanda and then eventually with friends in Ethiopia. And that was a bit of a parallel path that developed, both domestic and international humanitarian work. And then I became president of Cinnabon in 2010, helped turn that brand around out of the recession, a mall-based sweets business at the peak of the Great Recession and at the peak of the Adkins craze when no one was eating carbs. So that was interesting. And it's just this crazy success story and a huge testament to franchisees and the team.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thumbnails. I love that term. I haven't heard that. The thumbnails are raised by a single parent, had to start working very young. First person in my family to get into college ended up having to drop out. I say having, choosing to drop out of college because I had moved from being just a waitress at 18 and 19 to opening up franchises around the world at 19 and 20. I was traveling so much I was failing college. So I dropped out of college. Then later in the year, in my 20th year, I was offered a corporate job at the Hooters corporate office, which is what got me to move from Jacksonville to Atlanta. I oversaw employee training and then really fast forward to next thumbnail. I grew as the company grew. I took progressive jobs with growing people responsibility and P&L responsibility. And by the time I was 26, I was vice president of the company doing around 800 million.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Finding questions that are like that where you don't have to say, I'm different, I see you as what you might become. You know, it's more around evidencing that with saying showing humility and curiosity about a person and then having the courage to be honest with them if you have a question or a doubt or a point of view, because that builds trust as well. So I think it has a lot to do with specific questions and tone of voice and nonverbal cues that demonstrate reverence and respect and humility and curiosity.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're not. So it has to start with genuinely believing there's something possible because that's going to show up in tone of voice and treatment of the individual. And then beyond that, using literal words, I believe there could be something here. I'm not sure what most people miss. You know, that flipping the question a little bit instead of sell me like everybody else sells me, even though you may not have had near the resources or the support or the infrastructure impress me like everybody else does. Of course, that's not typically going to happen consistently, but rather what do most people miss? What do others you've talked to not get about this that you understand? I want to know what's unique about your view. A phrase like that, a question like that, indirectly says, I respect your perspective. And so”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that really forced me to build a muscle of learning to build trust quickly and of learning as a leader, there is no alternative. To me, there was no option other than believing that the people I've got can do the job. And that somehow subconsciously formed these little behaviors. Again, they became subconscious over time, but looking people in the eye if you're looking at them, making the time for them, the tone of voice, saying, I'm so excited to hear what you have going on, as opposed to, oh, I'm so important and you're groveling, right? It's mindset. First and foremost, it's mindset and how that is that people feel it. People are intuitive, they're empathic beings. They sense energy even through voice only or a Zoom and certainly in person. And if you're belittling someone else in your mind, even if you think you're covering it.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The first step is what I learned when I traveled to open restaurants around the world at such a young age. And every time I went to a new country, it was a new team. I had never met them before. They had never met me. The concept was new to the country. And so it was just a lot of new, like a lot of firsts. And so I had to build trust very quickly. I was the leader, leading a team I had never met who had to get to know”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With employees, with franchisees, startup founders, investors, friends, family members that is like that, that when you see it differently as what's possible and then act accordingly, people tend to be a better version of themselves.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And his buddies started cracking up, laughing. He was so impressed. It was basically saying, hey, dude, you're kind of an asshole about this, but I'm going to do it in a way that says, I think you can get past this. And ultimately, I'm going to prove that you're definitely not being cheating out of your precious wings and drummies. And he tipped me, the table tipped me incredibly high, that experience. And he never complained again. And it's funny, no one else handled it that way. Everyone fought it, right? Everyone was like, you're trying to scam us. You're trying to cheat us. Yeah, he probably was. But there was a different way to approach it. That was like, you don't seem like a horrible human. You just think the world's out to get you. So let me be the one that circumvents that cycle. And I've got countless examples in the restaurant industry, in boardrooms.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Providing some type of discount anyway. And I remember one Friday I just thought, you know what, he comes in every Friday. And that's good business for any restaurant. And so when he was almost done with his 50 wings, before he called anyone over, when there were still some uneaten, I rung up at my own dime a plate of 10 wings. And I brought them over before he ever complained. And I was like, here you go since I know we can never count all the way to 50. Here's an extra 10.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Job there for just under two years, and then I moved up as the company grew. But when I was a waitress, rocking the orange shorts, there was this group that would come in every Friday and this guy in the group would, they would order 50 wings. And at the end of the meal, with bones on the plate, he would call me or whoever the waitress was over and complain and say there were only 40 wings. And you're looking and get really mad about it. And I want to discount these should be free. We need a picture of beer, whatever. And you're looking at it and you're like, it's a plate of bones. Like, how can I debate this? And they would do this every Friday, 50 wings, pitcher or two of beer, and our servers would get so upset. And the managers would get furious and go fight with this guy and ultimately end up.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Again, will you be disappointed? Yes. Will you waste your time? I do occasionally waste my time. But wow, when you don't, when you can see it where other people don't and then you feel the emotional release of people who feel seen because they are being seen, I think that's super common in the world today with everybody who's raising micro funds and super angels and all these hybrid models of being willing to put capital to work. There is a way to put this possibility filter. I won't even call it a positivity filter. It's a possibility filter of what is possible. It can really open up some opportunities. But I want to share the story when I was a Hooters girl. So now going way back. So there was this customer that used to come in. And I worked for Hooters for 14 years. I had many jobs. I grew with the company. I was vice president by the time I was 26. I helped sell the company into private equity. It was an amazing ride, but I wasn't actual hostess and Hooters girl as my first.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Worth my time, and that there's not a billion dollar idea in there, and not everybody has billion dollar ideas, and I know plenty of people that have horrible ideas or ones that will, you know, rise to some level and be someone's nice little investment, but maybe not rise to the level of, you know, top decile VC firms around the world, but just hearing these stories and then seeing and hearing the stories of how many people pass on these opportunities because they don't understand the market and there are unconscious biases that we all have and they don't have the skills to sort through those and really see the potential. So that's just a really common one probably with your listening audience and your network where if you really viewed people as a default as what they could become like you actually believe first that it could be a billion dollar idea you don't go into it that it's not”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Give you, I mean, so many. I would say it happens weekly, truly. It's that common. Some more recent examples, I'll give quick ones, but I want to go way back to sort of an OG story when I was a waitress that really highlights this point. But I take calls like many people do from founders. People who are looking to spread the word about what they're doing, raise funds. And it blows my mind how when I talk to a minority founder, a woman, a really young woman, a black founder, a Latinx founder, an LGBTQ plus founder, non-binary. How many times I hear the story that they aren't even given the window to describe what they do, that there is just this belief that you must be building some small-time business and that you're not”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But over the years, I've learned that people tend to become closer to their potential if you see them as their potential. And the opposite happens if the opposite is true. And so I believe that humans are magic. I just think every fucking human being is so special. And maybe they have greatness that's unfound or unpolished or they're somewhere on that journey. And I know that by believing that, I will be occasionally let down. But that is a tax I'm willing to pay for all the benefit that comes from looking at people like they are their highest order self. They are their potential and seeing how our interactions change and if they're my team members or people I just work around how the outcomes improve.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I'd love that question. And I always think I've learned that I am a pragmatic optimist or maybe an optimistic pragmatist. I'm not sure which one, but there is a groundedness in me. And so it's my balloon is tied to the ground. It's not floating through the clouds. But I think the way that grew over time was from growing up with my mom. You know, we left my dad when I was nine years old. He was an alcoholic. She fed us on a food budget of $10 a week for three years. She worked three jobs and she never spoke ill of our father. That has to have contributed to this mindset of even when in a difficult scenario, you can operate with grace. So I think that's part of it, just what I absorbed from her amazing resilience and grace. And then a little bit of its nature, you know, it's in my nature.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And let him know the type of person that I was, and it reminded me that the reason he might have been surprised by that is he's likely had alternative experiences where people might have complained and been like, oh, that's so loud or, oh, I wish that wouldn't play all day. And so it was, I could feel almost this invisible weight lift off of his shoulders. And it opened up a great dialogue. Literally were like family now have been since then. And he would tell everyone whenever he would come to company events every year. You won't believe what Kat did. And I thought, I was just sharing that I love it, but it just showed how important human connection is in business and respecting cultures and being open if you find something that you might not be familiar with, beautiful, and appreciate it.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I love it. And I pulled up my phone and showed him that I had an app on my phone that played the call to prayer because I was so impressed by it in Istanbul. I had went to the app store and found an app that played every country's different call to prayer. They actually all sound a little bit different. And he was his face, I can't even describe it, he looked at me like I had three heads because we would later discuss that he wasn't expecting an American much less this leader of the brand that he's a franchisee of to be so deeply in awe and appreciative and sharing reverence for something that I guess he assumed would be polarizing and I understand why. And it just opened up this gorgeous relationship between us and”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I was, I think it was my first year as president of Cinebon. And Cinnabon has a massive presence in the Gulf and in the Middle East and in northeastern Africa. And so part of my tour was meeting franchisees all around the world. And Egypt was one of those stops. And it was the first time I had been to Egypt. And I was with our franchisees and I'd spent a little bit of time in Istanbul. So it wasn't the first time I had heard the call to prayer come over the speakers from all the mosques. And I was in the car with the franchisee and the call to prayer, you know, came on, blaring from the speakers from the mosques. And I just looked at him and I said, God, this is so beautiful.”
2020-07-28 · Invest Like the Best · Kat Cole – How to Operate: Lessons in Brand, Distribution, and Leadership - [Invest Like the Best, EP.184] · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source