What separates management from true leadership? In this episode, we explore this question with Rick Loera, a BIGGBY® COFFEE franchise owner, and the 2024 BIGGBY® Cup Winner, who shares his journey from restaurant management to franchise ownership. Reflecting on decades of experience, Rick discusses the core principles that set leaders apart, from creating a supportive work culture to nurturing team growth. He explains how BIGGBY®’s PERC philosophy – emphasizing speed, customer experience, and genuine connection – helps him go beyond managing tasks to empowering his team members to thrive. We also delve into BIGGBY® COFFEE’s broader mission, including its ethical sourcing and commitment to community impact. Rick’s passion for leading with love and purpose is clear as he shares his vision for BIGGBY’s growth in Lorain County and beyond. Tune in to discover how a focus on people, purpose, and positive impact can transform both business and leadership!
Rick Loera is a dedicated BIGGBY® COFFEE franchise owner and the 2024 BIGGBY Cup Winner, recognized for his commitment to fostering a positive work environment. With a background of nearly 30 years in restaurant management, including roles with Bob Evans and Outback Steakhouse, Rick brings a wealth of experience in leadership and team development. Now leading multiple BIGGBY locations in Ohio, he emphasizes speed, customer experience, and BIGGBY’s core values to create a thriving, community-focused business.
Key Points From This Episode:
Quotes:
“People get in that position and think, ‘Okay, now, I’m a leader because I’m a manager.’ — There is just so much more to leadership than [there is to] management. — Leadership is truly about growing people.” — Rick Loera [0:19:57]
“Managing is just managing processes. Leadership is all about growing people. And if you don’t grow your people, you’re not growing yourself.” — Rick Loera [0:20:46]
“We have to create a positive work environment for our people.” — Rick Loera [0:23:35]
“Sometimes, as leaders, you think that you may know everything, right? You don’t. Embrace feedback.” — Rick Loera [0:27:36]
“You have to love what you do. And if you don’t love what you do, then it is not going to filter down to your team, to your managers, and even to your customers.” — Rick Loera [0:31:39]
RESOURCES:
[0:00:08.0] Laura Eich: Welcome to Love in Leadership, the podcast where we explore what happens if you bring a little or a lot of love into the workspace. My name is Laura Eich, I’m joined as always by the one and only, Mike McFall. Mike, how are you doing?
[0:00:19.8] Mike McFall: You know, Laura? I’ve been a little sick, it’s more than a cold, it is pretty brutal but anyway, I lived through it, and I’m stronger for it.
[0:00:29.3] Laura Eich: I’m so glad.
[0:00:30.9] Mike McFall: Because I have a – developed a maintenance schedule for Love Joy, right?
[0:00:35.1] Laura Eich: Yeah.
[0:00:35.7] Mike McFall: Well, Caroline has but –
[0:00:36.3] Laura Eich: Okay, I was going to say, you need to use more words though because what the heck is Love Joy.
[0:00:40.9] Mike McFall: Oh, Love Joy is our – I would like to say soon-to-be but our someday-to-be leadership retreat that Bob and I purchased over the summer. You know, it’s a lot there, there’s a couple of buildings and you know? So, we decided we probably should put some processes in place.
[0:00:55.6] Laura Eich: Yeah, that seems like a good idea.
[0:00:57.4] Mike McFall: So, in the process flow, I asked, based on the fact that I had the flu this week, I asked Caroline to put flu shot in the Love Joy maintenance schedule.
[0:01:05.7] Laura Eich: Oh, that’s hilarious.
[0:01:08.0] Mike McFall: Yeah, because that will remind me to go get my flu shot, right? Just like check the salt in the water softeners and you know, whatever else it might be. Yeah, so.
[0:01:16.9] Laura Eich: That’s a really smart, honestly smart way to like, build a system into improving your life. So, I fully support that.
[0:01:22.6] Mike McFall: Yeah, yeah.
[0:01:24.2] Laura Eich: And I’m really sorry about the flu. It was also a really big week at Love Joy, yeah?
[0:01:28.8] Mike McFall: Biggest. Biggest yet.
[0:01:30.3] Laura Eich: Yeah, will you talk about that?
[0:01:32.7] Mike McFall: Sure, I’d love to. I’m part of something called the Stakeholder Business Society, and it’s a group of CEOs from around the country, who belong to this group, who believe in doing business better and doing business in a way that actually restores the world and there’s a lot to it, right? Like, we can do – and so, Nathan founded this with –
[0:01:56.8] Laura Eich: We probably should do a podcast where we talk to you all about this because it’s a big concept.
[0:02:03.9] Mike McFall: It would be cool to maybe bring some of the people on and we are actually. I think Michelle Leming is scheduled to come on, she’s a member, she’s mind-blowing. So, anyway, that group does four retreats a year and this one was scheduled for Ann Arbor and we went with two Richard Sheridan’s place at Menlo Innovations and that was kind of the, you know, the course work.
But the night before, when everybody got here, we went up to Love Joy, it’s about a 45-minute drive north of Ann Arbor, and had dinner, and hung out, and just – it was the very first group we hosted there and so to have Nathan, you know, my shaman there, to sort of welcome the place and it was spectacular.
[0:02:47.6] Laura Eich: Yeah, what an inaugural event for Love Joy.
[0:02:50.8] Mike McFall: I know, and then guess what I’m doing next week?
[0:02:54.1] Laura Eich: DeLuca? DeLuca Retreat?
[0:02:55.1] Mike McFall: Maybe even better. We’re having the DeLuca Forum there for a reunion for an overnight.
[0:02:59.8] Laura Eich: Very good.
[0:03:01.0] Mike McFall: Yeah, yeah.
[0:03:02.3] Laura Eich: That’s so cool.
[0:03:02.8] Mike McFall: Super excited about it, yeah. So, it was a great week and you know, just to hang out with CEOs, everybody’s got their thing, you know? And like, they’re super passionate about their thing, and so to hang out with a bunch of people, a bunch of leaders that really have a thing that they’re super passionate about, that’s solely focused on essentially improving the world, you know, through business, it’s just so inspiring.
You know, to hang out with CEOs who are 100% profit valuation driven, it’s just not as inspiring than to hang out with people who have all of these amazingly powerful and passionate projects and work that they’re doing, it’s crazy. By the way, Jeremy joined us.
[0:03:48.1] Laura Eich: Yeah, I texted with him last night, actually because I was like, “Tell me all about it.”
[0:03:53.1] Mike McFall: Hell, yeah. He’d forgotten, you know? And I was sitting here, and I was talking to Carolyn on Monday. I’m like, “You know, Jeremy never even responded.” I go, “That’s not like Jeremy.” You know? So, I texted him, and I’m like, “Hey, are you joining us?” Then he’s like, “Oh, I forgot.”
[0:04:06.8] Laura Eich: Oh, bless.
[0:04:07.2] Mike McFall: So, he just drove over.
[0:04:08.3] Laura Eich: So cool.
[0:04:08.5] Mike McFall: That night. I know.
[0:04:09.9] Laura Eich: That’s so good. Yeah, he said the salon dinner was a really cool concept and I was like, “I don't know what that means but I’m excited for you.” And then you had told me all about it.
[0:04:20.6] Mike McFall: I’ll take you, you’re going to come on one of these events with me.
[0:04:22.9] Laura Eich: Fun, super cool.
[0:04:23.3] Mike McFall: They’re great, yeah.
[0:04:24.3] Laura Eich: Yeah.
[0:04:24.7] Mike McFall: As soon as like, Charlie’s driving.
[0:04:26.7] Laura Eich: Yeah, well, okay, sounds good. It’s interesting that you talk about the people around the table all interested in changing the world through their business that kind of thing because that’s what – I’ve been in now, a few hours of conversation with John Gilkey this week, our company’s president, and he and I are trying to just do some brain work around some of the work we started at all of the annual planning sessions.
So, we had our C hive, our C Suite retreat that we started some of this work on, and then we did a whole management team annual planning, a couple of weeks ago, and he and I are getting together and we keep coming back to exactly that concept, which is something that seems to be very unifying, something that pretty much everyone who we are interacting with that’s part of BIGGBY COFFEE is unified around the idea of like making the world a better place through business.
And we love that because that – I think that was – that’s always been in our world but maybe not as clearly stated as that but very recently, at least, I keep hearing that. I keep hearing echoes of you know, BIGGBY making the world better and the franchise owners trying to make their communities better and us trying to make our franchise owners' lives better and our community better and just like – and making people’s lives better, the workplace better.
Our farm direct initiatives trying to bring betterness to those worlds and it’s just feeling all very aligned. There’s a lot of boat being rowed in the same direction type conversations going on right now, which is really exciting.
[0:06:08.3] Mike McFall: I got opinions if you guys want.
[0:06:09.5] Laura Eich: I know, oh, I know.
[0:06:13.9] Mike McFall: The greatest thing about this retreat, there’s a picture I posted last night in the socials, and I think I laughed harder in this one moment in the salon dinner on day two. I couldn’t, I couldn’t stop laughing, and I mean, we were – it is such – it was such a beautiful scene, you know? And laughter is oftentimes how people connect, right? We’ve talked about that a lot before and it just was such a beautiful moment.
[0:06:41.8] Laura Eich: Oh, I think I saw that picture. Was it Nathan was laughing bigger than I think I’ve ever seen Nathan actually laugh?
[0:06:47.5] Mike McFall: Yeah, and I look like I’m like – I know I look like my face is going to explode.
[0:06:51.2] Laura Eich: Yes, oh, I love those movements though, that’s so good.
[0:06:55.8] Mike McFall: Yeah, it was so good.
[0:06:56.2] Laura Eich: Super joyful, and speaking of joyful things, I’m really excited for our guest today because he is a really good person who I think brings a lot of joy and care and kindness into the world. He is a BIGGBY franchise owner and so much more, our BIGGBY Cup Winner. This is just going to be, it’s going to be a good conversation. I’m ready to get into it, you ready to go?
[0:07:18.0] Mike McFall: Now, let’s do it.
[0:07:18.8] Laura Eich: Awesome. Please enjoy this conversation with Rick Loera.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:07:23.2] Laura Eich: All right, we’re ready to dive into it. Rick, how are you doing today?
[0:07:27.4] Rick Loera: Oh, doing fantastic, doing fantastic, enjoying this 70-degree to 50-degree weather in one day, so.
[0:07:34.7] Laura Eich: Oh my gosh, that’s very exciting.
[0:07:37.1] Rick Loera: Yeah, it is.
[0:07:39.0] Mike McFall: Hey Rick, Rick, Laura can’t relate. She’s in Florida.
[0:07:42.2] Laura Eich: I can’t, I’m at Florida right now.
[0:07:42.9] Rick Loera: Oh, is that right? Oh, wow.
[0:07:43.9] Mike McFall: And she’s been there for like – she’s been there for like, two months, I think.
[0:07:46.9] Rick Loera: Is that right? Oh, boy.
[0:07:47.8] Laura Eich: No, I’ve been here for two weeks.
[0:07:49.1] Mike McFall: Oh, okay, all right.
[0:07:51.9] Rick Loera: It’s just, you know, as we talk about that I have no trees in my yard but I have the most leaves in my yard. So, that’s just – that’s the kind of weather we’re in right now.
[0:08:00.0] Laura Eich: Oh, of course, that’s funny. Actually, speaking of that, Rick, how about let’s dive right in, have you introduce yourself, who are you, where are you from in the world, where you’re talking about this weather phenomenon going on, and what is it that you do, tell us a little bit more about you.
[0:08:15.0] Rick Loera: Okay, so, my name is Rick Loera. I am from Avon Ohio, which is the west side of Cleveland. So, as you know up in this area here, we have four seasons in one day, so it happens but right now, I am a franchise owner with BIGGBY COFFEE and I am really the daily operations and overseeing we have three locations going and we’re going to be opening our fourth location here on Tuesday, November 5th. So, we’re excited about that, we’re in the middle of training, ending up actually this week. So, exciting.
[0:08:47.1] Laura Eich: So exciting, yeah. I saw that we popped those podcast on right before you’re opening a store. I’m like, “Oh no, are we okay? Do you have room to have this conversation?”
[0:08:56.7] Rick Loera: Yeah, we always make room.
[0:08:58.2] Laura Eich: Thank you so much. Awesome. Cool, so tell us a little bit more about your history. I know you’re a BIGGBY franchise owner now, that’s how we know you. Oh, also, you left out a very important part of your introduction that you were the 2024 BIGGBY Cup Winner.
[0:09:13.8] Rick Loera: Oh yeah.
[0:09:13.9] Laura Eich: Which is kind of a, “Oh yeah, that little thing.”
[0:09:18.2] Rick Loera: BIGGBY Cup Winner and you know, our goal is obviously, we challenge ourselves. Obviously, we also made the varsity club, which is very exciting for us as well, and it was kind of neat. We just kept pushing ourselves and my biggest accomplishment on that is being able to do that with two locations and that was a pretty big accomplishment for us.
[0:09:37.0] Laura Eich: That’s a big deal.
[0:09:37.9] Rick Loera: So, to be able to reach that, so yeah. So, the BIGGBY Cup, the varsity club, you know, my team, the stores, they do very well, they were excited, so.
[0:09:45.7] Laura Eich: That is a big deal because I think, previously – so, the varsity club for those listening is when a franchise owner has sold 400,000 cups through their stores within a year, and like Rick mentioned, he did it with two stores. I think the previous record was like, Joe Kubicek, Kyle Nelson, they had done it with three stores and that was the first time someone had done that.
Before that, it was people had always done it with four stores or more. So, yes, that’s a very big deal, very exciting, BIGGBY Cup. Mike, do you want to explain what the BIGGBY Cup is?
[0:10:18.1] Mike McFall: Yeah-yeah. So, going way back, all the way back, we created this thing that was meant to be an award with no criteria, and so we purposefully would not disclose how we came to our decision. It was Bob and I, right? So, Bob and I sit in a room. Marilyn’s there with us to help mitigate any disputes but yeah, there’s no criteria. What we’ve been doing most recently is asking the heirs and then home office group to nominate people.
And so, yeah, your nomination came in, of course, and it is always somewhat about performance but it’s also I think, more importantly, about where the owner is in terms of their development and like, more about the person and how they interact with BIGGBY and you know, there’s certain franchise owners out there that just feel like they go so far above and beyond everyone else in terms of their commitment to the brand, commitment to supporting other franchise owners.
So, that’s really, really what it’s about, and we always enjoy it. We really enjoy the fact that there’s no criteria.
[0:11:31.5] Laura Eich: It’s always – we used to talk about it like it was the award of mystery and now it’s like, it’s really like, who is just a really awesome BIGGBY person who people are noticing, their stores are you know, thriving and their staff members are thriving. It’s just – it’s a huge deal, it’s our final award of the night at BIGGBY Nation Summit. So, I love that for you, Rick, it was so well earned.
[0:11:52.2] Rick Loera: Thank you.
[0:11:52.9] Laura Eich: And so exciting.
[0:11:54.2] Rick Loera: Thank you.
[0:11:54.6] Laura Eich: Will you tell us a little bit more about your history, what you did before BIGGBY? Like, how did you get from wherever you started to landing as a BIGGBY COFFEE franchise owner?
[0:12:04.1] Rick Loera: So, I started out when I was 16 years old as a busboy for Bob Evans and I spent 27 years with Bob Evans. So, worked my way up from a busboy to a cook and all the way up into management and it worked up into the area director role with Bob Evans in the 27 years that I had with them. So, I had a lot of development, a lot of growth, a lot of – seen a lot going through that time and that 27 years.
So, it was definitely a really, really good time and a great you know, great-great job. I did leave Bob Evans and went to Outback Steakhouse. So, Bloomin’ Brands, I spent with them for five and a half years, and after that five and a half years, I’m like, “I just need to go on a little bit of a different direction.” And just was undecided on what I really wanted to do and then my business partner approached me because my daughter had worked for him because he’s a Jimmy John’s franchise owner.
She worked for him and he knew about me through her and about, you know, my history, and he approached me and said, “Hey, there’s this venture I want to take and I want to see if you would be interested going on that adventure with me.” And you know, I looked into it and thought about it and – or did I make the right choice? So, you know, from there –
[0:13:14.4] Mike McFall: Okay, my day is complete.
[0:13:16.3] Laura Eich: Yeah, right?
[0:13:17.3] Rick Loera: So, from there, you know, again, I joined on, five and a half, over five and a half years ago. We did open our first location back in September of 2019 but I came on board sometimes like May, June, with BIGGBY COFFEE at that point, and so here we are.
[0:13:31.0] Laura Eich: Can you talk about why you stayed with Bob Evans? I’ve actually known a few people to work for Bob Evans who really enjoyed it and they speak very, very highly of it. So, what was your experience there?
[0:13:41.5] Rick Loera: My experience was, it was really a family-oriented type of company and you know, there was a lot of great people that had the opportunity to work with from the top leadership, all the way down, you know, into the management, even just your team. I spent 12 years in one location as a general manager and boy, just the development of the team, and for me, it was just one, the restaurant business was in my blood, I guess, and so I stuck with that.
But just the way things were and just even the people and my employees, and then even the customers, I mean, it kind of ran, you know, ran down through you know, from me, to the employees, to the customers and being able to walk onto the dining room and sit down and have coffee with customers and you know, chat with them even on a Sunday morning because your team was taking care of, you know, what they needed to.
It gave me the freedom to be able to sit down and spend time with my customers and enjoy them. So, for me, it was this – that whole atmosphere and what we did, you know, as a company, at that point was just – that’s what I loved, you know? So.
[0:14:45.7] Laura Eich: That’s very cool. I imagine there is similar regularity to some of the Bob Evans Customers like, we have at BIGGBY COFFEE, is there some overlap there?
[0:14:55.8] Rick Loera: Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, you get, again, Bob Evans, you have a lot of regular customers. With our store, I mean, we have so many regular customers that come in every day. It’s just amazing how many and they come in two to three times a day, you know? And they just – they love BIGGBY, they love our product, they love our people and I mean, that’s why they keep coming back because they really enjoy coming in and seeing the baristas and that really just makes their day, you know? So, that’s exciting.
[0:15:21.9] Laura Eich: It sounds like, and something I think I’ve heard from you is sort of your beliefs behind everything is hospitality. Like, everything is hospitality, and I think I’m getting the sense that you learned some lessons over your time at Bob Evans, and I’m curious if you can speak to any of those, as far as lessons in leadership. What leaders did you learn from, what were some of those lessons?
You said you started at 16 and obviously, left almost 30 years later so there’s been a few lessons along the way. Can you speak to some of your more powerful leadership moments?
[0:15:55.5] Rick Loera: Right, and I’ll answer that if I can backtrack real quick on the last question. I think that one that the – what BIGGBY COFFEE has done and them embracing, really looking at where that direction that we’re headed, you know, with the direct farm and the things that we do now as BIGGBY company, when you think about that with what Bob Evans did as well is that really honing in and really trying to drive and thrive, and not only just making it about the home office, it’s really about the people, you know?
And so, when you think about that and the similarities are still the same, what we do. So, but yeah, you know going into, you know, as far as leadership and growing, you know, there was a lot to learn, you know? When you’re young, you think that you know, you know, so much, and when you’re driven, you really – I always wanted to be the best at what I did and sometimes, what I did wasn’t the best so you had to learn from it, right?
And so, you know, I go back to there was one person, an individual. His name was Randy Hicks, who was a – one of my area directors that was a really a mentor to me that I worked several years with, that really – he helped me understand a lot about one, who I was but also, about leadership. When I look and think back of who my mentor really was and truly, when I think about that, he was the person.
I had – I had a lot of people that I will have the opportunity to work with and learn from. You know, and it’s challenging, as you’re growing and learning and become a leader, there’s always different things that you have to work on. You know, I remember when, you know, I always wanted to become a general manager because I was a kitchen manager and always wanted to just move ahead and be better and be able to help and develop, you know, teams.
And you know, some things is you know, I remember being – sitting down with one of my general managers one time and I said, “What is it that I need to do to get promoted?” You know, he said, “Well, one of the things that you need to work on is to make eye contact with the individual that you're speaking with and stop looking away so much.” So, little things that just kind of – little things that are important and so, as I grew, it’s just taking from so many different leaders that I work with and just piecing them all together, right?
And then, trying to incorporate that who I wanted to become as a leader and so, really learning and utilizing those little things as you grow into leadership, again, always willing to want to learn because if you don’t, if you stop learning, you stop growing, right? So, at this age, you know, I’m 55 years old and I’m still learning, I’m still growing, you know? And that’s the challenge as a leader is to really continue, keep an open mind because we’re not the best, we’re not perfect. We want to be excellent, we’re never going to be perfect but continue to try to be excellent, so.
[0:18:33.6] Mike McFall: Hey Rick, see how I had to squeeze in there because Laura was just about to go? Ha. I have a theory in the world and the theory is that I believe that there’s a direct correlation between successful people in the world and good people. You epitomize that to me.
[0:18:56.8] Rick Loera: Thank you.
[0:18:57.9] Mike McFall: I really appreciate your energy and your style and it’s very, you know, comfortable and you know – but I also know there’s a whole boatload of intensity going on too, you know? But I just appreciate who you are and what you're doing. So, I just wanted to say that first. I wanted to know like you went through somewhat similar to my story in terms of starting as a barista. Laura’s story as well, frankly.
You know, you’ve seen a lot of different approaches to management, leadership, and so on. Do you find that there’s a distinction between those two things between management and leadership?
[0:19:32.7] Rick Loera: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I think that people get into position of manager, they think that that is a leadership role, and the true meaning when you think about what the differences are between management and leadership is that really management, you know, you manage a lot of processes that go on in the restaurant and in the store, right? So, you’re working on scheduling, you’re working on ordering, inventory, controls, right?
And staffing and so on. So, people get in that position and think, “Okay, now, I’m a leader, just because I’m a manager, I’m a leader.” There is just so much more to leadership than there is to management. Or leadership is truly about growing people, okay? So, managing is all about managing the system in processes within your store but leadership is getting people to grow and so, as a leader, you know, that is your responsibilities on a day-to-day basis is, who can I make better?
You know, again, I go back to my mentor, Randy Hicks. He told me, if your people are not better than you, you’re not doing your job, right? So, I always push myself to make everybody better than who I am, you know? And so, that’s just something I’ve worked on. Again, I learned that early in my career, you know? So, again, managing is just managing process. Leadership is all about growing people, you know? And is – if you don’t grow your people, you’re not growing yourself.
[0:20:57.7] Laura Eich: You’ve talked about, “If you're not learning, you’re not growing.” And I’m curious, what do you do for yourself right now? Because you’re very much a leader, you’re also a manager, you’re a business owner. What are you doing to keep learning? Because I imagine you maybe don’t get hit with like, just voluntary feedback that often. People might be a little intimidated to bring you the feedback.
[0:21:18.7] Rick Loera: Absolutely.
[0:21:19.8] Laura Eich: How do you engage in growth and continuous learning?
[0:21:22.7] Rick Loera: You know, I read, I do look up and watch videos on growth, you know, in the leadership, and I think that you know, for me, with again, with the younger people is how do you adapt yourself to really learn how to manage and you know, grow them, you know? So, it’s a little – obviously, it’s a different error of where we’re at their lives and so being, you know, older and you know, 55 years old, compare an 18 or 19-year-old is just – you have to be open to feedback and listen, right?
And watch, and then really, truly understand who your people are or what do they want, right? So, I push myself to grow in that leadership role, to really, truly understand people at every different level where they’re at, you know, in their life, and in their age, you know? And just – and so for me, you know, I just push myself just to continue to do that, so.
[0:22:13.1] Laura Eich: Do you have any favorite books or like videos?
[0:22:18.1] Rick Loera: That, I don't know why I’m drawing a blank. I might need to take a pause on that.
[0:22:21.1] Laura Eich: That’s okay. That’s okay.
[0:22:22.5] Rick Loera: You know, I think about it, there’s Switch, there’s you know, again Creating Raving Fans. I mean, I read so many. There’s so many about just, you know, driving so I can’t even think of the general’s many – gentleman’s name that really, you know, backed to the basics that wouldn’t, you know, when your business isn’t going the way you want to, you sometimes you need to take a step back and really go back to the basics of what we’re really about, right? So, I just can’t think of – I don't know why I’m drawing a blank now on his name.
[0:22:48.5] Laura Eich: That’s okay.
[0:22:49.2] Mike McFall: No worries, it happens to me all the time. You know what I’ve done? I get interviewed on a podcast now that I have – I have a little card sitting on my desk with like, two or three podcasts and then books because you do, you just blank out.
[0:23:02.8] Rick Loera: Yeah, right.
[0:23:02.6] Laura Eich: Right.
[0:23:06.9] Mike McFall: You know and that [audio cut 0:23:05.4]
[0:23:06.7] Rick Loera: Right.
[0:23:08.0] Mike McFall: What do you think is, and I’m going to put you on the spot here, but what’s the number one factor, not the laundry list of stuff, the number one factor in creating the kind of workplace that people love to show up to?
[0:23:24.4] Rick Loera: So, you know, and I think about this all the time and you know, even with opening our new store because I love especially when new people come in as one, the one thing I really tell them is that one, we have to create a positive work environment for our people, right? And just to see the face or their faces when you tell them, you know, what it is that you expect and what you want and what type of environment we have our people is really driving your cultural values.
So, every company obviously has different cultural values, right? Our four or “Quatro” values are have fun, be yourself, make friends, and share great coffee, right? And so, when I go through those Quatro values and tell them about that, you know, about the – especially having the fun piece, right? You know, just their look on their face and they’re like, their jaws drop and like, “I’ve never had this before, I love this, you know?”
And so, if we create that environment, you know, really driving the Quatro values in the team, I always tell them, “Listen, I want you to come into work enjoying, you know, you get up in the morning or you get off of school that you want to come to work because you truly enjoy that, right?” If you find that you don’t love or enjoy what you do, then you need to go and search for that because if you’re not doing it here, you know, it’s not working for you, right?
And then, obviously, it’s not working for us. So, just really create that positive work environment for your people. When I think about things, again, established, our Quatro values are established, you really have to instill that, not only in yourself but your people, and expect that from them, expect that from yourself. Foster communication is very huge. I think that if you don’t have open communication with your team and let them know that, “Hey, you can come to me at any time.”
You know, I always talk about this too, that sometimes people see me and I’m intimidating but I’m like, “Listen, I’m really a big teddy bear. If you want to talk to me, I’m here. I’m here for you, I’m not going to bite your head off, I’m not going to yell at you because you’re asking me a question or you want to talk but you know, I’m here. I listen, I want to be able to help you grow. I want to be able to help you, whether it’s growth in the – you know, in what we do here or even outside.”
So, be flexible. I tell you, you know, if you’re not flexible with your people, it hurts you, you know, it hurts you and people, at that point, people are like, “You really don’t care about me and my time, right?” So, that’s important. To me, provide growth opportunities for your people, you know? So, when we talk about that leadership piece of it is really we can provide growth opportunities but how can we provide that growth to them, to be able to get in and move into those leadership goals with us, right?
So, as we continue to grow, as BIGGBY continues to grow, that’s what we need but you know, in our market here, our growth is we still want to grow, and I always tell people that. That there’s that opportunity there for that, right? So – and then, lead with compassion, you know? You have to be genuine in everything you do, you know? And if you’re not, if you come off fake, people will realize that, right? But, lead with compassion is very important.
And when we talk about – and you know, in the new store opening with new employees, and even in the stores I still walk into now is that you know, our operating philosophy of PERC. I drive that, you know? To me, it’s just – it’s in the blood now. I’ve been doing it for five and a half years so it’s in the blood and when I talk about it, and you know my daughter works with me, she goes, “I just don’t know how you deliver this.”
I’m like, “Listen, that’s because that’s what I believe,” right? So, I’m genuine, I’m passionate about those things. So, acknowledge great work. When people do a great job, you got to make sure you acknowledge it. I think sometimes as leaders, managers, and leaders too, is we tend to go in and focus on what’s wrong and what’s not going right, right? And a lot, we do that a lot of times.
So, focus on what your people are doing great, right? And make sure they know that. You know, when they show up for work and when they’re leaving, “Hey, thanks for coming in, you know, I appreciate you,” you know? So, that’s very important. If they don’t hear that if they don’t hear thank you, if they don’t feel that appreciation, again, that’s not a positive work environment for your people, right?
You got to set clear goals with them, make sure they understand what is that we’re truly trying to accomplish, you know, within ourselves and again, the biggest piece, sometimes as leaders you think that you may know everything, right? You don’t.Embrace feedback. Embrace feedback, anything that you do be openminded, embrace feedback, you know? And I always tell people too, “Hey, if there’s something I’m doing that you don’t like or see from me, let me know.”
I can change it, right? Or if there is a concern or a problem in the store, you got to bring it to my attention because if I don’t know anything about it, how am I going to change that? So, there’s a lot that goes into really when you’re really trying to create that positive work environment for your people. You know, there is a lot that really truly goes into that, so, and again, you have to have that passion of really what is your end goal.
What do you want, what does that look like? You know, and if that’s what it looks like, then you got to get your team to make sure that we get there, right? So.
[0:28:26.1] Laura Eich: Yeah. I feel like if I was listening to this podcast right now, I’d be like, “I want to work for Rick Loera. Like, this guy is amazing, he’s just good people.” Because I think you are. I think you just – I think this is just who you are, which is so beautiful. I love that, I love the, you know, lead with compassion, you got to be flexible, catch people doing good, that’s one of my favorite.
I think it’s a Simon Sinek thing but like catch people doing good instead of trying to catch people doing wrong. Is there anything specific you guys do at your BIGGBY location to try and like plus the barista experience? Like, how do you try to beyond just being good leaders and it sounds like you are a good leader, it sounds like you help develop great leaders but beyond the actual leadership thing, is there things you guys do to try and motivate our baristas or add to that fun, add to that sharing great coffee, add to the cultural values, and that kind of thing?
[0:29:25.1] Rick Loera: Yeah. You know, at a certain point and it’s kind of when I was hit and miss thing, just I mean, create. Be creative in things that you do. You know, we ran like a bingo contest just to really help tie this to [inaudible 0:29:33.7]. So, we ran a bingo contest, and when you do different things like that it gets people going. You know sometimes, you get those people that are tied into it, that goal like really overboarding. They’re like, “Yeah, let’s do that, you know?” And –
[0:29:46.0] Laura Eich: That’s me.
[0:29:46.9] Rick Loera: And they’re the ones that are always winning, you know? But you got to create fun things, you know, for your employees, you know, for them to do occasionally. Just after a long hard shift, buy pizza, you know? If you’re going to the store to get milk or what have you, pick up cupcakes or cookies on the way back just to show that appreciation for them, right? So, just the little things like that really make a difference for your people because again, they do feel appreciated.
You know, my biggest push for my managers really is focused really on training that piece of it that will help out with that but just, you know, I know that my managers, you know they – I want to do an employee of the month but I always tell them, “Listen, if you’re doing an employee of the month, you got to keep it going.” And what I’ve seen in the past is people start an employee of the month thing and then all of a sudden it just like, “Well, this person’s always winning.”
And then it just goes to the wayside and it’s like, “What happened to the employee of the month thing?” So, you know if you do take on things like that, just make sure it’s consistent. It’s consistent month in, month out, or however you do it. Just don’t start and stop it because at that point, you know it doesn’t work. So, you have to be creative, so.
[0:30:50.1] Mike McFall: Spoken from the voice of reason as somebody who managed a property for 12 straight years.
[0:30:55.1] Laura Eich: Right.
[0:30:56.0] Rick Loera: Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
[0:30:57.4] Mike McFall: That’s my thing too, Rick, and what did I say to you Laura when we talked about the podcast?
[0:31:02.2] Laura Eich: Oh, that we have to do a hundred, yep.
[0:31:03.9] Mike McFall: Yep.
[0:31:04.2] Laura Eich: That one, yeah.
[0:31:05.3] Mike McFall: If we’re going to start, we have to do a hundred episodes.
[0:31:07.0] Rick Loera: Right.
[0:31:07.3] Laura Eich: Yeah.
[0:31:07.9] Mike McFall: I think we might start getting good at it at about episode 80.
[0:31:11.1] Laura Eich: Yeah, we are still in the learning phase of the podcast creation.
[0:31:16.9] Mike McFall: I have one here and it’s sort of to the flavor of our podcast, I just sense a whole bunch of – and I am just going to use the word love when you talk about your people and talk about your culture and talk about your environment, and what’s your reaction to that concept? You know, love in the workplace.
[0:31:35.8] Rick Loera: Well, I think for me, so anything about that word love, you have to love what you do, right? And if you don’t love what you do, then it is not going to filter down to your team, to your managers, to your team, and even to your customers. So, for me, what I look at is that I go in every day, I wake up every day you know, this is my life, this is the life I have chosen and the reason why I’m doing it in five and a half years later, and then the reason why we keep growing is because I love, I genuinely love what I do.
When you go into the workplace and people don’t feel that, right? If they don’t feel that that’s what you love doing this if your customers don’t feel that because again, your customers will know if you really enjoy and love and truly doing what you do. That’s why you get so many customers come back to see you, not only baristas but they understand that you know what? You are the leader and they know and it’s like when they –
If I don’t know a customer that’s usually there, I’m in and out of the store. So, I might be at one store if somebody has never seen me before, “Are you the owner?” “Yeah.” “Oh, I love it, your people are great. You know, we love coming to BIGGBY COFFEE.” You know, say, they tell you those things, right? And so, they always look out for you because they want to know who you are. So, they know that because of the fact that I love what I do and it filters down my people and they love what they do, it all comes back, right?
It all comes back, yeah, so I mean, you never use that word love in the workplace, you know what I mean? And that’s very true, you know? So, but again, I think love is, you know, other than using the word, it’s a feeling. It’s a feeling, love is a feeling.
[0:33:16.2] Laura Eich: I was going to say I love that concept but that felt like pondering or something but –
[0:33:20.7] Mike McFall: A little too much.
[0:33:21.3] Laura Eich: Or so much love. No, the concept though of focusing on what it is, like bringing the parts that you love with you I think is a super important concept when talking about developing people. I just had this conversation with one of my employees in the last couple of weeks was about what part of the job do they love because right now, they’re doing a very broad job and we could make it more narrow in order to allow them to maybe thrive a little bit better.
And so, that type of conversation I think should happen more and more. You know, you’ll find you I bet intuitively can find the leaders out of the new employees just by seeing what they love doing. There’s people who love leading, there’s also people who love not leading and that’s okay. Like, there’s people who love doing and they want to be able to just do the doing without having to lead everybody or manage people and that kind of thing.
So, I just think I appreciate that interpretation of bringing love into leadership is focusing on bringing your own love of what you do and showing that to people. I think that’s really important.
[0:34:34.5] Mike McFall: You know, I wanted to acknowledge one quick thing that you said, there’s a handful of operators out there that have really figured out how to do extraordinary volume inside of their individual units and you’re definitely in that category, no doubt about it. There’s another gentleman by the name of Victor Fayes, who also has figured out how to do extraordinary volume in his units.
He’s a four-store owner, very similar to you. If you don’t know Victor, Rick, I think you’d love him if you ever had the chance to meet him.
[0:35:01.6] Laura Eich: Yeah, we could make this friendship happen, that would be great.
[0:35:03.3] Mike McFall: Yes, I said, “Victor, how do you do it?” You know, that’s all I said, right? And he said, “Mike,” he goes, “I do one thing.” He goes, “All I do with my managers is I talk about PERC.” He said, “Everything else takes care of itself, any other mistake that happened in our world, we can handle if we’re obsessed with PERC.” And I heard you say that earlier and you know what perk is an attitudinal agreement that we hope to have with our baristas that they want to be successful in their work with us.
And what we say is, “If you want to be successful in your work with us, here it is, right?” And it’s PERC. So, I would love to hear in your experience with other operations what kinds of things they had, like we all know PERC. I mean, like and you know, I think our listenership is probably about 97.5% of BIGGBY people and so, what other kinds of things have you experienced in food service, restaurant that might be similar to PERC or kind of convey that same type of thing?
[0:36:06.9] Rick Loera: To faith, you know, without backing Bob Evans, you know they obviously had steps of service, right? Of going through and you know when you approached the customer and really try that. So that to me, this a lot more steps of service, you know what I mean? Of how we accomplish and make sure that we’re trying to deliver really what the company was about.
To me, it’s more of a robotic type of thing that it’s this has to be done. You know, PERC has to be done in the stores but PERC is, to me, it’s a lot more genuine than what steps of service are, right? Because at this point, again, you’re creating robotic people to just follow steps, and so both of those companies, you know again, had that. You know, obviously, they focused on you know, hospitality piece.
You know, there’s different things that they did, they would have you know, shoppers come in and make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing and driving the customer experience and so on. So, you know, so there’s different things that you know, the companies did to be able to do that. Mike, you know, when we first talked and you came down and sat down at the table at BNS one time and you said, “What is it that you do right and how are you doing that in your stores?”
There’s two things I focus on and I would tell you this and I tell this at every single peer or person I interview is that one is speed of service, right? Speed of service is very critical because when you look at some of our competitors, it doesn’t happen, you know? And people don’t want to wait, right? And the other piece is really driving the customer experience and how do we do that, right?
So, speed of service was the biggest thing but then driving the customer experience. So, when I first came on again with BIGGBY, the number one was speed of service was we have the better product, we have the best product out there. So, coming in and learning what BIGGBY was and what we have, we have the best product by far, okay? Out of all our competitors. The one thing that in my mind was we have to be better at speed of service, right?
So, that was my drive was that when we opened up that we’re going to be quick but the second piece was driving the customer experience, right? So, that’s something again I learned you know, with Bob Evans and Outback. So, when I think about two things and then all of a sudden there was PERC, wow, this is what BIGGBY’s about, PERC, the operating philosophy, right? For session by customers that we respect their time and move them as quickly as possible.
It’s all about speed of service, right? Respecting their time and move them as quickly as possible. Driving that customer experience is every customer leaves a store in a better mood than when a customer arrived. How important is that? That when that person pulls off that they’re in a better mood. So, when you think about what my drive was, it fell in the line of truly what BIGGBY COFFEE is about, you know, and we talk about that operating philosophy of PERC.
Every person that even if I don’t bring them on, I interview them, they know what PERC is. They know what PERC is, it’s – I write it down, I explain it to them because that’s – when I try to and I bring them on, I tell them, “We’re about speed of service, we’re about driving the customer experience. Here’s how we do it.” And I write PERC down, I write P-E-R-C and I go through it, even if I guess, even if I don’t bring them on, they know what PERC is and they’re going to take, that hopefully, one thing they take away from is PERC, PERC, PERC.
So, you know, and then when you think about recognize each customer as an individual, again, it all falls in line with really driving that experience, getting to know who your customers are, and then consistently produce a high-quality beverage. You know, again, it goes back to that every customer leaves the store in a better mood if we’re not consistently producing a high-quality beverage, it does make a difference for that customer.
So again, Mike, you know just kind of going back to that question is that you know, and/or Laura’s that we, you know, there are different steps and when you look at our contract bio it’s about being “Be Yourself,” right? We don’t want people to be robotic in our stores. We want them to be who they are but driving PERC in the right manner, right? And so, be who you are and really focus on driving PERC because again, that is our operating philosophy, and Mike, as you said it, the same thing I tell as Victor is that’s how we do it.
[0:40:14.0] Mike McFall: I know, that’s why I asked the question. You know, I think that the thing that I love about all of that is that it’s my personal philosophy, 99% of people want to be successful. It’s our job as leaders to clearly define them what it is that they need to do to be successful and that’s truly what PERC is. Position priorities is a little bit more like the Outback Steakhouse and the Bob Evans thing.
It’s like, this is kind of like what you do when you do it and you know, there’s a lot of magic in all of that too. It’s very important but the real sort of wizardry behind our system is this idea of setting the attitudinal expectation for people and to me, it’s one of the more loving gestures you can make as a leader is to really clearly define someone what they need to do to be successful in their job because then they feel great about their job.
They feel great about coming to work, right? So, I definitely knew you would have a lot to say on that, and I –
[0:41:21.6] Laura Eich: And you know when someone truly has embraced PERC when they nail the word for word under –
[0:41:29.6] Mike McFall: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[0:41:30.8] Laura Eich: Because you nailed the word for word right there, that was – I was checking you the whole time.
[0:41:37.0] Rick Loera: You know, I love it, and that was a challenge obviously when we went to the owner-operator. I mean, that was obviously the challenge and the big push is learning. You know, it’s funny because I challenged our new team that is getting ready to open up and I told them there’s a couple of things I expect from them and I’ll reward them with a BIGGBY, you know, sweater if one, they know PERC word for word, if they know what the mission statement is, and if they know the cultural values, you know?
But then also I wanted to make sure they complete their mentor, you know, videos but for me, I think that completing videos take such a long time. So, if they can know, if they know what PERC is, if they know what our mission statement is, you know, and if they know what our cultural values are, to me that is important and critical because they took that seriously and they truly understand what it is that we’re trying to do.
Not because I’m asking you to memorize it because this is truly who we are and what we’re going to do moving forward to opening them that door to you know, for however long we’re going to be there, which is probably forever, so.
[0:42:35.5] Mike McFall: This is really for both of you. I was with a group of CEOs earlier this week and the gentleman had one of our coffees, one of our farm direct coffees, the La Fortaleza, and he – kind of, he said, “Honestly, I’ve been drinking coffee my whole life.” And he said, “I think that was the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had.” And then I said, “And by the way, I know that but it’s also the most ethically sourced coffee on the planet, period” right?
And so then, he challenged me because he’s an environmentalist, right? That’s his thing, he’s an environmentalist and I love the guy, I’m like, “Okay.” I’m like, “All right.” And so, we sat and had a you know, five, 10-minute conversation, I unfolded all this for him. I just kept unfolding all of this for him. At the end of it, he was like, “Remarkable, man, like remarkable.” So, I know, it’s really good stuff.
[0:43:29.9] Rick Loera: I am trying to remember if it was just at our new location. I don’t know if it’s an employee or a customer that came through and thought we were up and they asked, “Hey, you know where do you guys get your coffee from?” And I’m like, “Listen, we are farm direct.”
[0:43:41.4] Mike McFall: You got an hour and a half maybe? Because –
[0:43:45.0] Rick Loera: We are farm direct. When I told him the process, he’s like, “Really?” I go, “Yeah.” I said, “We are farm direct.” And you know, Iike I don’t remember if it was an employee but there again, just to see the look on their face that we’re farm direct and that we’re doing that to them was like, “Man, that’s really cool, I love it.”
[0:44:02.0] Mike McFall: It’s cool as it gets, just cool as it gets.
[0:44:03.5] Rick Loera: Yeah, exactly.
[0:44:04.0] Laura Eich: I love when people ask that question. I’m like, “Can I just tell you about [Mary Ann 0:44:07.9] first of all? Like because I’m just going to tell you about the actual people involved in making this coffee for you today. I love it so much. Out of respect for time, I am going to ask I think a final question.
[0:44:17.4] Mike McFall: No, no, no, not yet.
[0:44:19.1] Laura Eich: Okay.
[0:44:20.0] Mike McFall: No. I mean, seriously? Is it that time already?
[0:44:23.3] Laura Eich: I mean, well –
[0:44:24.6] Mike McFall: Oh, my gosh, it’s 45, holy smokes.
[0:44:25.6] Laura Eich: I know, yeah. I know but I was going to give you a little room, Mike, if you wanted to have him over again.
[0:44:32.1] Mike McFall: Oh no, no, go ahead. I mean, I could but no, I’ll honor. I’ll honor where you’re taking us.
[0:44:36.9] Laura Eich: We can talk to Rick any time, which is the nice thing about a BIGGBY person.
[0:44:41.2] Mike McFall: Speaking of that, Rick, I’m going to be in Cleveland next week. I don’t know if you’re –
[0:44:43.6] Rick Loera: Yeah.
[0:44:44.1] Laura Eich: Oh.
[0:44:44.4] Mike McFall: Busy to join us but yeah, I’m going to Cleveland next week, I’m excited.
[0:44:47.8] Rick Loera: Yeah, Mo did reach out to me to see if we’d be able to have, you know, time for dinner with you. So, I said of course.
[0:44:54.6] Mike McFall: Great, great, great, now, I’m going to get by the new store too.
[0:44:57.6] Laura Eich: Oh, well now, I’m just jealous. So, everything is fine, it’s okay.
[0:45:01.8] Mike McFall: Okay, Florida.
[0:45:02.8] Laura Eich: I know, stop it. I’m just missing a lot of fun things, it’s okay. It’s delightful, I love my baby on the beach is really cute, so it’s all worth it but Rick, I want to know what your big goals and dreams are right now. Like, looking ahead, what’s your next big giant goal? Not just getting the store opened next week, that’s casual, that’s old hat for you now. What are you dreaming of?
[0:45:27.3] Rick Loera: What am I dreaming of? My goal, personal goal along with my business partner is at least have 10 locations here in Lorain County with BIGGBY and really BIGGBY being the name of Lorain County rather than our competitors. So, that is one goal of mine. You know obviously, one minor goal as a personal goal of you know, we’re trying to remodel a little bit in the house.
So, I am trying to get that done as well but for me, I mean, just growing BIGGBY right now is probably my biggest goal and obviously, you know as I am getting a little on, like I said I’m 55 years old so I don’t know if I’ll ever retire and my kid, “Dad, you got to take it easy. You got to take it easy.” I’m like, “There is no taking easy, it’s always a grind, right?” It’s always a grind, right?
So, but like I said, my personal goal right now is just business goals are the lead, develop BIGGBY COFFEE within the Lorain County area, and being able to help us grow as BIGGBY nation, so.
[0:46:31.0] Laura Eich: Let’s do it, let’s win Lorain County. We are well on our way. Actually, on the upfront, by the time this comes out your new store will be open. Will you tell us where to find that new location so anyone listening can maybe pop by?
[0:46:46.4] Rick Loera: Yeah, we are – it’s BIGGBY COFFEE Elyria. We are 831 Cleveland Street in Elyria, Ohio 44035, so that’s the address there. You can follow us on Facebook at BIGGBY Elyria Cleveland Street because we do have two locations in Elyria, the other one is BIGGBY COFFEE Griswold Road. So, if you look at our Facebook it will be the Cleveland Street location.
So, I’ll tell you what, the site that we have, I mean, it is so – I’m going to use the world beautiful because it’s a beautiful building. I mean, it’s a B-cube, we’re fortunate enough to have the product that they’d supplied. I mean, it looks great I’ll tell you. I mean, so, one of my store managers that works down in another C-cube, she drove by and she’s like, “How come I don’t have this?”
[0:47:29.4] Laura Eich: I love it.
[0:47:29.7] Rick Loera: Right? You’re a little too late.
[0:47:32.1] Mike McFall: That’s called generation right there, boy.
[0:47:34.1] Laura Eich: Yeah.
[0:47:33.9] Rick Loera: Exactly, yes. So, it’s great. It’s eye-catching. I mean, and there’s a ton of traffic and people are just waiting there, coming by. You know, we’re standing outside the other day and they’re honking, “When did you guys open?” The community’s excited for us to get to be there as well, so.
[0:47:46.7] Laura Eich: Oh, I’m so excited for you. I hope someone listens to this podcast and then goes into your store, well, drives through your store, not drives through, you know what I mean. Goes through the drive-through at your store and tells you that they heard you on the podcast, that would just make my day. So, let me know when that happens because it will.
[0:48:02.4] Rick Loera: All right, yeah, I will let you know.
[0:48:04.4] Laura Eich: Amazing. Well, Rick, it was such a pleasure to talk to you. Like I said, you’re just such good people, and I just love you so much. So, thank you –
[0:48:13.1] Rick Loera: Thank you.
[0:48:13.8] Laura Eich: So much for the time today.
[0:48:16.2] Rick Loera: Absolutely.
[0:48:16.1] Laura Eich: And we just can’t wait to see what you do next.
[0:48:18.7] Rick Loera: Yeah, thanks for having me on and it was great speaking to both of you as well. So, I really enjoyed it. So, I mean, if I didn’t have to get there and do dry runs today, I’d be willing to stay another half an hour on and talk about it.
[0:48:28.2] Laura Eich: I’ll take it.
[0:48:31.5] Rick Loera: But again, thank you both, we – I appreciate it, so.
[0:48:34.0] Laura Eich: Awesome.
[0:48:33.9] Mike McFall: All right, thank you.
[0:48:34.8] Laura Eich: And good luck with your opening.
[0:48:35.6] Rick Loera: All right, thank you very much. Have a good one.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:48:46.5] Mike McFall: I remember the very first time I met him and you know Mo. Mo is like, over the top on everything and God love him for it, you know? But he’s like, “You got to meet Rick, you got to meet Rick.” He, that on and on and on. You know with Mo, I’m always, “Yeah.” just got to take that stuff with a grain of salt because you know, Mo comes at you at a hundred miles an hour all the time.
[0:49:04.8] Laura Eich: Okay, yeah.
[0:49:06.3] Mike McFall: So then, mentioned it in the podcast about, like I said, that was a one time, like, years ago, you know? And had lunch with him and Michael and I just sat, I was with him forever. I mean, I was with him for like an hour and a half, like, no joke. It just never stops.
[0:49:21.4] Laura Eich: Yeah. I loved his whole list. It seemingly was going through a list where he was like, this is just all the ways to be a good leader, a good manager.
[0:49:32.2] Mike McFall: Positive culture.
[0:49:32.3] Laura Eich: Create a healthy workplace, create positive culture, yeah but it was like, “Be compassionate, be flexible, keep learning, keep growing. Look for people doing good or catch people doing good.” Like, all – I was just like, "Yes, okay, I’ll come work for you.”
[0:49:49.3] Mike McFall: There’s two things that really popped for me. One was, this concept of, “If you don’t take the approach, that your people need me better than you, then you’re not leading.” You know, and I think that so often, in a leadership role, we get wrapped up that we’re the best. He even touched that, like he said, we’re the best. He’s like, “No-no-no-no, the objective here is to make people better than you are.”
And he said, “As a leader, you think you know everything, and you don’t.” Which you know, I think you and I both agree with that.
[0:50:25.2] Laura Eich: We totally agree.
[0:50:26.3] Mike McFall: And then, the trick is to embrace the feedback, right? And how to get better, and so, and I think he’s done that his whole career, and I just think that’s why he’s just such a great leader.
[0:50:37.4] Laura Eich: Yeah. I love that because that’s a lesson I think I’ve learned from you over the years too, has been, you always have celebrated the crap out of when you hand something off to someone and it’s better than you could have dreamed it. I try to emulate that and I think Rick, obviously, has learned the same lesson and I think he’s doing it too because you just – he will always celebrate his people and how they’re learning and how they’re growing and I think that’s how he defines his success, which is just so beautiful.
[0:51:06.9] Mike McFall: It is. The other golden nugget that I will carry with me, and I think we might want to brand this. He said, “Love is a feeling,” right? And of course, love is a feeling but like, what I hear him saying in that is, is we don’t talk about love in the workplace but people feel it and I think that’s so true, especially with Rick. You feel that when you're with Rick, right? That’s what I think powerful leaders do is they make people feel that way.
[0:51:43.7] Laura Eich: I love that and I laughed. Every time I’ve talked to him in the last couple of months, he’ll talk about how people find him really, really intimidating.
[0:51:50.1] Mike McFall: I don’t.
[0:51:50.5] Laura Eich: That he’s just a big teddy bear. I was like, “No. I don’t know.” I feel all sorts of love and warmth from him.
[0:51:55.4] Mike McFall: I know. If you’re a 20-year-old, right?
[0:51:56.9] Laura Eich: Yeah, 19, yeah.
[0:51:57.8] Mike McFall: Yeah-yeah, and you deal with the guy who has much success as he’s had and you know, of course, right? But I just feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy when I’m around Rick.
[0:52:07.9] Laura Eich: And one of the things that – and we’ll wrap but one of the things that stands out to me with Rick’s story is he’s like, very successful by all the traditional methods or metrics, by all the traditional metrics. He didn’t talk about that at all.
[0:52:23.9] Mike McFall: Never, no. They never do.
[0:52:27.2] Laura Eich: He just wanted to talk about his people and that feeling and creating beautiful workplaces and like, that is – I believe, one of the things very much contributing to his wonderful success as a franchise owner, as a business owner and it’s like, he just doesn’t even talk about that. It’s like, that will just take care of itself. That silence was poignant to me.
[0:52:48.4] Mike McFall: Poignant. Poignant, nice use of the word poignant.
[0:52:52.1] Laura Eich: Thank you so much. Any other thoughts about things that stuck out today?
[0:52:56.4] Mike McFall: No, I can’t – I’m all excited to go to Cleveland to see Rick.
[0:52:59.1] Laura Eich: I know. I'm so jealous. I would – I look forward to the photos and hearing all about it. Dear listener, to make sure you don’t miss an episode of Love in Leadership, be sure to hit that follow button wherever you find podcasts. While you’re there, do us a solid and leave us a rating or review. To follow along with Mike and I as we explore the world, follow us on our social channels @LifeYouLoveLab and @MikeJMcFall.
If you have an idea for a guest, you think we should connect with, please email, LifeLab@Biggby.com, and to learn a bit more about BIGGBY COFFEE’s purpose of supporting you in building a life you love, check out biggby.com. Love you, Mike.
[0:53:36.6] Mike McFall: Laura, love you, and I don't know why but “do us a solid” seems like a poop reference to me. So, I don't know if we might edit that out and do a little something different.
[0:53:49.7] Laura Eich: No. Leave it.
[0:53:50.7] Mike McFall: You’re going to leave it now, aren’t you?
[0:53:51.6] Laura Eich: Leave it.
[0:53:52.4] Mike McFall: Torture me.
[0:53:53.6] Laura Eich: Now I want to know who listens all the way to the end. We love you, listener, whoever is still listening. It’s not a poop reference, we’ll see you next time.