Today brings the new book by Ron Shaich , founder, and former CEO of Panera Bread. It’s called, Know What Matters: Lessons From A Lifetime Of Transformations . Shaich offers clear-headed lessons for the entire life cycle of an enterprise, from bootstrapping a startup to going public to managing large companies to selling a business. He challenges readers to grapple with how business impacts life, sharing his own struggles and setbacks with as much honesty and candor as he describes his successes. The primary four transformations Shaich led were: Evolving Au Bon Pain (his predecessor company) from a simple French bakery to a chain of bakery cafes – a platform shift that set the stage for new opportunities in the space between fast food and fine dining. Discovering, through careful observation of customer behavior, a whole new paradigm within the restaurant category that became the $100 billion-plus fast-casual segment. Recognizing the potential...
Sharing tips, ideas and techniques for leaders and managers for the past 16 years.