Older Entrepreneurs Have 3 Key Advantages Over Young Innovators. Here's How to Cultivate Them
The 4 Worst States for Small Business Employees
How to Properly Give and Receive Feedback
Investors Are Souring of Food Tech Companies. Here's Why
Daniella Pierson Shares the 4 Essential Lessons That Helped Her Become a Multimillionaire
Why Humility Is So Important to Startup Success, According to This Accelerator Hub
How Shark Tank's Daymond John Scored a More Than 40X Return on His Investment in Scholly
Seth Goldman's first team was built at home. He had a full house: his wife, three sons under the age of five, a brewmaster in the basement, and a mission.
The Honest Tea founder, known for innovative, healthy, and environmentally conscious food brands, was getting his first business off the ground, "It was just this really intense time," says Goldman. "I had left a job, a good paying job, to start this startup."
The startup, Honest Tea, would become a great success, landing on Inc.'s list of fastest-growing companies seven times before selling to Coca-Cola in 2011. Now, Goldman is building his next venture, Eat the Change, a Bethesda, Maryland-based snack company that makes nutrient-dense snacks that are kind to the planet.
In a recent streaming event on Inc.com, Goldman spoke with entrepreneur Aisha Bowe, founder and CEO of Inc. 5000 engineering firm STEMBoard. Here are some takeaways from their conversation on building, maintaining, and empowering effective teams.
Eat the Change currently has about 30 people and is on track for about $30 million in sales, says Goldman. By way of comparison, Honest Tea, when it had $23 million in sales, had 52 people. "We're trying to be more lean here," says Goldman.
The team emphasizes creating appropriate expectations and awareness about what employees are getting into from the start. This information is found not only in the team's handbook but also in the interview process.
Goldman says one of the easiest ways to screen a job candidate is for them to come to the office on a busy day, hear all the noise, and understand that there are only two closed offices, and they're for conferences. If you value privacy, or you can't focus when there's a lot of noise, you might not be a fit.
They also have to have that entrepreneurial mindset, says Goldman. Things happen quickly, and the pace can certainly be demanding, he says. So employees have to embrace that entrepreneurial challenge and get curious about the entire business, not just their role. "This is not nine-to-five work," says Goldman.
If you're asking employees to give everything, you need to support them. Goldman says that preparing and supporting teams during growth is easy because it's typically energizing in itself. The harder thing to do, he says, is finding ways to keep them going when times are tough. "That's where the mission really comes in," he says. "We as a company have goals and it works best when everyone understands how their work impacts those key results." When you have educated and empowered people, he says, they feel like what they do matters: matters to the business, the world, and their compensation.
Goldman says you've got to give people real power and autonomy for decisions. To make decisions, he says, they need real information. This is one reason Eat the Change practices open book management, sharing financial information transparently with employees. "People see all the financials, they see the margins, they see the profitability," says Goldman.
You also have to model what you're hoping will be the dynamic for the team, says Goldman. You can't ask people to walk up and down the street in rainy, cold February lugging bags of tea if you're not willing to do it yourself, he says. On a true team, everyone's a leader, everyone has a role to play, and so you have to make sure that people feel engaged and empowered to help make decisions.
This is when those expectations come back up, says Goldman. As a leader and as a company, Goldman says, they do as much as they can to communicate what the objectives are and whether that person is meeting the objectives towards those results. Continuous feedback is extremely important, he says. And while he never likes to fire anyone, says Goldman, when he decides to do so, it's not a surprise. "It's a bad sign when you have to fire somebody, and they're surprised."
The first thing is to cover the basics. If an employee or an employee's family member has a health issue, they must take the time they need, says Goldman. You build an even deeper connection by sticking with them through those challenges. When they come back, they're much more appreciative of the work, and the company that supported them. It's all about finding that balance between entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic, and entrepreneurial freedom. "Dinner with my family is more important than the work, but results matter," says Goldman.
Goldman has a few smaller ways of bringing joy to the office daily. One of them is his "Charmin rule," he says. "We're not buying that industrial toilet paper. I want the same stuff you have at home. It's got to feel comfortable."
Eat the Change is a call to action, says Goldman. It's about changing your diet to support a healthier planet, and by that, finding foods to eat that have a lighter environmental footprint, and that's something everybody can do every day. They take this commitment seriously, and Goldman wants his employees to benefit from the work as much as he does. "Every employee who has worked for the company for more than 12 months has stock options," says Goldman.
Now accepting applications for Inc.’s Best Workplace awards. Apply by February 16 for your chance to be featured!
A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta
Privacy Policy
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Bradley Blankenship
visit website
