We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scott Wozniak. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scott below.

Scott, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

The last job I had as an employee was really unique. I worked directly with the leadership team of the Chick-fil-A headquarters and I spent 50% of my time going inside other companies and learning how they operated. The other 50% of my time I used what I learned to upgrade the customer experience systems of Chick-fil-A.

I did that for 8 years and on the side wrote a couple of books. People asked me to coach them and speak at their events. That grew until I decided that I needed to leave Chick-fil-A to help some other companies.

When I told Chick-fil-A that I needed to go, the first client who signed with me turned out to be Chick-fil-A! :) And I’ve worked with them every year since then.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve spent 20+ years studying the great companies of our time—from the inside. After a while, I noticed a pattern. They all had the same set of systems. The tactical details were specific to each company, but they all shared the same “engine” that created raving fans.

I wrote that down, created a visual of an engine to make it more memorable, and started helping other companies build it. We tweaked the engine as we learned and for 10+ years we’ve been using this model to help people become the legendary brand of their category.

Maybe you have a great technical service and you’re looking to add the premium customer experience. Or maybe you have an innovative product and you’re in fast growth mode—but you’re starting to lose the customer experience excellence due to all the growing pains.

It’s not magic, it’s not luck. There is a set of systems that you can use to create raving fans. We help people build those systems, so they get more and better customers year after year, decade after decade.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My first career wasn’t business consulting—I was a child actor. My mother was a theater director and I did my first speaking role at the age of 4. I loved it and dove in. By the time I was 10, I was traveling the nation, winning competitions. In high school I was on a Christmas special for NBC Studios. I even got my bachelor’s degree in Musical Theatre Performance—and then I decided that I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life doing that.

I like it, but I started working with youth non-profit programs and loved that even more. So I took a hard left turn and started all over. And then, after becoming a leader in two national programs, I made another shift and went back to grad school to get a masters in business. Then I became a leadership coach and consultant.

The lesson I learned along the way: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Sure, your proficiency in a field is a part of what you consider when you choose your path. But there are a lot of ways to apply a core ability.

Just because you’re good at math doesn’t mean you have to go into finance. Just because you’re good on stage doesn’t mean you have to become an actor. Those are just the obvious ways to use those abilities.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Early in my career, I ended up working some really nice people who were really bad leaders.

If you’re a good person, I thought, and you give it your best try, then you’ll figure it out and it will go great. I set that in contrast to the cold, calculating businessperson—and I thought we were superior.

Then I lived through the pain that these bad leaders caused—and those bad leaders included me. I was forced to face the need for systems, structure and strategy.

I thought that the most important thing was great ideas. I discovered that ideas that don’t get implemented benefit no one.

And, ironically, as I went through the hard work to get good at operational excellence, my passion for those skills grew. I went from bad to good, then I became a guide for others who need to make the same change.

I even ended up getting a masters in business and found that you don’t have to choose between noble purpose and tactical discipline. In fact, they each make the other better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SwozConsulting.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/scottwozniak/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/scottwozniak/
• Other: Newsletter Sign Up Link:
  https://tinyurl.com/3xmtry64

  Make Your Brand Legendary with Swoz Consulting
  https://kite.link/make-your-brand-legendary-with-swoz-consulting