From her start as a hostess at Hooters to leading some of the world’s best-known food brands, Kat Cole shares the leadership lessons she’s learned through her accelerated rise up the corporate ladder. On this episode, the current group president of FOCUS Brands talks about her personal leadership philosophy, how to help people embrace change, her advice to young leaders, and what it takes to lead successful teams with hustle and heart.
Follow Kat: Twitter | Instagram
Show Notes
- Insights into her younger life (2:45)
- Opening a Hooters franchise in Australia at age 19 (5:58)
- Curiosity + confidence + humility + courage (7:00)
- How her experiences have influenced her leadership style (8:52)
- Why her correlation with money wasn’t positive growing up (10:40)
- Her definition of success (10:46)
- Her advice to young leaders (16:50)
- How she handles doubters (19:30)
- Building the culture at FOCUS Brands (23:22)
- How to create a culture of innovation (26:20)
- How to get team members to embrace change (29:22)
- A moment she failed and how she recovered (33:05)
- How she finds work-life balance (36:04)
Resources / People Mentioned
- Hooter’s
- Focus Brands
- Leadercast
- Women’s Foodservice Forum
- Social Animal by David Brooks
Recommended For You
Did you enjoy this episode? Then listen to:
- Tiffany Dufu on the Myth of Doing it All
- Steve Koonin on Creating an Innovative Culture
- Mike Feinberg on Purpose-Driven Leadership
- Val Ackerman on Reinventing Your Career
And read:
Thanks for checking out Game Changers with Molly Fletcher. Be sure to subscribe on iTunes and leave a rating or review!
