Action Catalyst Update – Mike McFall

We catch back up with Mike McFall, author, entrepreneur, and Co-CEO of Biggby Coffee, who walks us through his new book, “Grow: Take Your Business from Chaos to Calm“, explains how the best-run business is one you’re not a part of, hips us to the “most powerful productivity hack in corporate America since the microprocessor”, and teases the conclusion of his leadership trilogy.

Hear more from Mike in his original appearance on Episode 406 of The Action Catalyst.

You can find Mike’s latest book here.

About Mike:

Michael McFall’s journey within BIGGBY® COFFEE began in 1997 when he and his business partner, Bob Fish went on a now-infamous walk around Michigan State University’s campus. They were meant to discuss opening a second store with Mike as the manager. A couple of hours later, the walk ended with a handshake on the agreement of becoming equal partners to grow the brand, BIGGBY® COFFEE.

Mike’s story within the company originally kicked off in 1996, at the very first store, when he took a minimum wage job as a barista. He has since held nearly every position in the company, completing an astonishing journey from barista to Co-CEO. Mike’s cowboy-squirrel-like mentality and full array of BIGGBY® experience is what allows him to create authentic relationships with employees and Franchise Owners that are built on genuine understanding, credibility, and respect. Two decades into this remarkable voyage, Mike brings a unique personal experience to the company, having led BIGGBY® COFFEE through survival mode, stability, and aggressive growth.

In August 2019, Mike published the book, Grind, with the single purpose of helping entrepreneurs establish a positive cash-flow business. This book is built on his personal experience with the ups and downs of building a business, and Mike’s conversational approach to entrepreneurialism teaches people how to effectively improve their business. What better example of entrepreneurship could BIGGBY® COFFEE ask for than from one of the leaders who helped build the successful system up to where it is today.

Mike graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1993 where he earned four varsity letters as a member of the golf team and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He also studied for six months at Fourah Bay College at the University of Sierra Leone where he wrote the life story of Johnny Smythe. Mike participated in the West Island College Class Afloat program in 1988 and sailed halfway around the world on a square-rigged tall ship, visiting 13 countries.

Currently, Mike serves as both a member and Forbes Contributor of Forbes Business Council. He also teaches on the subject of entrepreneurialism in his class ‘Finding Your Venture’ at The University of Michigan Center of Entrepreneurship and is a hockey enthusiast with a goal to one day own the Detroit Red Wings. When Mike is not spearheading BIGGBY® COFFEE’s newest business venture or writing his latest book, he can be found in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, Elizaveta, and their children.

Learn more at Biggby.com.

The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!

LISTEN:

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR RSS FEED: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-action-catalyst/

SUBSCRIBE ELSEWHERE: https://the-action-catalyst.captivate.fm/listen

__________________________________________________________________________

(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):

Host: We are joined today once again by Mike McFall, author, entrepreneur, and the Co-CEO of Biggby Coffee, the nation’s third largest coffee franchise. Welcome back.

Mike McFall: Ready to roll. Let’s do it.

Host: When we last caught up with you, you were fresh off the release of your first book “Grind”. How was “Grind” received and how’s Biggby?

Mike McFall: Well, Grind, you know, I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with that book, which was to capture the ethos of startup. You know, what, what, what’s it like to be, uh, an entrepreneur in a startup? And, you know, in my opinion, what your mentality needs to be and how you need to approach the business. And I’m glad I’m through it. I’m now into book two. Biggby is in an amazing, is in an amazing place. Like, it’s hard to even explain. Uh, we are growing like. Like crazy. And then there’s certain moments in a business when you’re, when you’re running it and managing it, that it feels like you’ve got the wind at your back and, and there’s other moments when the wind’s in your face. And right now it certainly feels like we’ve got the wind at our back.

Host: The new book is called “Grow: Take Your Business From Chaos to Calm”. So what exactly is chaos?

Mike McFall: Well, to me, chaos is my phone ringing 25 times a day. Uh, chaos is having a list of 75 unread emails in my inbox. At the end of the day, chaos is being involved in every decision, in every detail, and I think that stuff’s real important at startup and that the entrepreneur is fully engaged and is, you know, involved in so many of the details and the decisions, and you can’t grow a sustainable business in that chaotic space. Some people try. I think that’s really hard. So what I’m advocating is you get it to positive cash flow. You’re still in that bootstrapping. Moment, the entrepreneurial bootstrapping moment. But from there, you have to turn yourself into a leader and go through the transition of being a startup entrepreneur, to actually being a leader of a team and of an organization. That’s a transition that’s difficult for many entrepreneurs to make because so much of what made you successful as an entrepreneur is gonna get in your way as a leader.

Host: Like what?

Mike McFall: I would say probably the biggest one and the one that’s, that’s the hardest hurdle to get over for an entrepreneur is the group is smarter than you are. And for an, for an entrepreneur to admit that and be willing to let the group take very important decisions and work through very important decisions, and then execute those decisions with limited or maybe no involvement from the entrepreneur. That right there is a huge hurdle. You know, it probably is where it is today because of you. That, that, I don’t deny that, right? Like it, but transition out of that, you have to get away from the fact that you’ve got everything answered.

Host: So piggybacking on that, one concept that shows up in both books is the idea of doing due diligence on yourself.

Mike McFall: Yeah. That, that concept of due diligence on yourself. I’m really proud of that. But to me, as a leader, no matter what stage your business is in, whether you’re at startup or you know, you’re reaching stability or you’re, you’re into, you know, later stage of the company, like, You always have to be assessing your impact on the organization, but more importantly, you need to be assessing what the organization needs from you. And then do you have the due diligence part is, is do you have the ability to fulfill that? And if so, great. But if not, then how are you gonna meet that need that the organization might have? That is this concept of, of working continuously around your self-awareness. And self-awareness to me is understanding the impact you’re having on others and on the organization itself. By being involved in something, what is the impact? And so that’s what we have to constantly be being paying attention to. And I get my wrists slapped all the time in my organization because I, you know, you, you’re not even aware of the impact you’re having. Just being a part of it changes it. And so your best mentor is your team. People think of mentors as people that have blazed the trail or people that are ahead of them in relation to the development of their company and so on. People that are, you know, have vast experience. Sure that that stuff is, is, is okay too. But actually, in my opinion, the best mentor are the people that are on your team bringing you feedback about your impact on the organization. You as a leader are responsible for building the environment where that can happen, where they feel good. About bringing you feedback to help you improve as a leader, and then therefore help the organization improve and excel. It’s so powerful that like, I had this feeling of gratitude when somebody does that, you know? And so it’s like, oh, you know, thank goodness you did that. There is a real outpouring of gratitude, like, thank you.

Host: So knowing how you define chaos, it sounds like calm means sustainability.

Mike McFall: Yeah. Well, and I would add one more caveat to that, which is give me more options at the end of the day. So if I’ve built a sustainable enterprise that’s being run and led by a, a team of professionals and that I’m irrelevant to the future success of that business, I have all kinds of options, I can hold it. I can bring in a strategic partner, I can sell it, you know, and a company that’s being led that way is more valuable. Like if I’m still a huge factor in the, the ongoing operation of this business and I’m gonna get bought out and I gotta, and I’m gonna move on and go do, you know, go live in Florida, or something that makes the company less valuable, call this also having as many different outcomes available to me as the owner of the business.

Host: One big claim in the new book is that you say you’ve identified the most powerful productivity hack in corporate America since the microprocessor.

Mike McFall: I’m so glad you picked up on that. I love that.

Host: And it isn’t tech.

Mike McFall: It’s not tech. So 82% of employees are disengaged or actively disengaged in their work. If we can transition half of those people through really powerful. Leadership by building an environment that’s nurturing and supportive and loving. Where they enjoy coming to work. Where they leave work more invigorated than they showed up. Imagine the increase in productivity. It’s, it would be staggering to take 41% of our workforce and take them from disengaged to engaged, and it isn’t on them. It’s not their responsibility to do that. It is leadership’s responsibility to do that. It’s people like me and organizations who are willing to build an environment where they show up and they are fired up and they love being there and they feel like they’re contributing and they’re, they, they’ve got a supportive environment with their team. Boom, all of a sudden. You’ve unlocked them and you’ve taken them from disengaged to what I would call actively engaged. And if we can do that, I think it’s the largest productivity accents in the microprocessor. And the thing that’s astonishing to me is it doesn’t cost anything and it’s happening in places. I mean, there are companies that are like booming and it’s incredible to be a part of, and people love it. We just need that going on everywhere.

Host: You had mentioned that this book is the second in a planned trilogy, sort of your Empire Strikes Back. What’s your Return of the Jedi?

Mike McFall: The third book is always the book I’ve wanted to write and I felt like I needed to write books one and two to have the credibility to write book three. And book three is a call to action. It is. Alright, so now you’re a successful entrepreneur. You have all the resources in the world. You’ve built an incredible team. You can, you know, get appointments with anybody you want. Now what are you going to do? How are you going to improve the human condition? And I want to challenge people in leadership roles to figure that out. It can’t be about private planes to your third home Aspen and going to the country club and playing the game of who’s richer. We have an obligation, and I believe people feel that and know that. And now what I wanna do is I want to challenge people to actually take that on, to set the example for everybody else. John D Rockefeller said something like, giving his money away was 10 times more stressful to making it, you don’t wanna screw it up. Taking that and then having powerful impact on the world. That’s book three. That might sound like a niche book, right? People that have $50 million net worth and above. But my opinion is, is that we need everyone expecting that of leaders. If the new employee coming outta college and steps into your company has the expectation of they know when they come to work, how they’re gonna contribute to improving the human condition, that’s powerful for them.

Host: I’ll give you the last word for any parting advice.

Mike McFall: This whole thing is not a straight line, and sometimes you spin around and go backwards for a while and, and like, that’s all to be expected. As long as we keep trying to get better and better every day when we show up. That’s what it’s about, is just plotting forward and making that, making those things happen.

Host: Thank you for joining us once again.

Mike McFall: Oh, thanks for the opportunity to be here. I appreciate it.