On Our Pace

By Brian January 14, 2020

It was in his 6th or 7th week of work at Summit when Donovan, our Director of Coffee, said, “I’ve been waiting for things to slow down and settle in a bit, but I am starting to think that might not happen around here.” Later in the fall, Dora asked in passing, “Do you think other coffee companies do as much as we do? It sounds boring to work anywhere else.”

And Andrew remarked in a meeting that the last quarter of 2019 was the “most productive 12 weeks we’ve ever had.”

Welcome to the new normal, where our pace of activity is outpaced maybe only by our ambition and ideas. In the last 48 hours, we’ve installed a new espresso machine at Basecamp, built wainscoting along the bathroom walls, had meetings with prospective franchise partners, potential investors, a new wholesale account, and somehow stayed in one place long enough to have a team meeting around the launch of instant coffee and our entire operation in Colorado.

It’s a thrilling time, to be honest, to be part of this team and part of this company. Ideas and energy from one department of the company generates both admiration and inspiration for the others. While this could be a rat race, an endless “what have you done lately” chase, it’s not that. Rather it’s a rising tide where pushing the envelope, disrupting the norm, and challenging ourselves and those right next to us is merely the norm.

I manage under the philosophy that comfort breeds complacency. I’ve learned the hard way that when people get into too much of a stable rhythm, that work becomes more a matter of “how efficiently can I get the job done,” and less about “how can I do my job better?”

So here’s this pace we’re setting, something akin to driving 100 mph or reading three books at the same time. Jokingly (sort of), I’ve tried to master the craft of listening to podcasts while reading to maximize my time on airplanes (it hasn’t worked yet). And it feels right. I think we owe it to each part of our business to bring total creativity, total curiosity, energy, resources, etc. Too often in the past handful of years has a big focus on roasting, for example, lead to a lack of attention on Basecamp. Or that opening Asheville took our eyes and minds off of the Outpost for too many months.

How is this possible? It’s all in the people. I’m not naive enough to think that I, alone, can drive action and success, and just plain fun, everywhere in the company. I have always known that, but it took me a while to feel that. The best catalyst for getting all 5 businesses and all 55 people on pace is to get the right people on the bus.

I trust that Angela is going to not only manage the Asheville operations with tremendous oversight and clarity, but also with genuine curiosity. Same thing goes for Jamie at Basecamp and Wes at the Outpost, and Dora helping oversee all three of those cafés. Donovan’s drive to make everyone in Summit better at coffee is relentless, and so helpful.

There’s a bit of a throwaway line in the middle of this company culture book, “Great Mondays,” that we just finished reading as a leadership team. It states: “If something sucks, make it better.” I LOVE that.

That philosophy starts with me and the ownership team, and extends through every employee on the Summit team. We’re in a real state of innovation, of motivation, of cohesive production. And having that cohesion allows us to pick up the pace, to push the boundaries even further. To not only ask the question, “what more can we do,” but even better listen to the answers we come up with.

I wrote in the fall how badly I want work to be fun. For the baristas, for me. I find nothing more fun than dozens of Summit people working together, and working independently, to make us better and more dynamic in every aspect of what Summit is doing.

The teamwork and creativity that’s shined through the past 48 hours is stunning. From the 8-10 baristas using nail guns and unfamiliar power tools to modernize our Basecamp bathrooms; to the five-person marketing and arts team all bringing their A+ game to our Outdoor Retail brainstorm; to the depth of conversation we’re having with interested franchise owners; to the excitement emanating from some potential new investors. This, I tell you, is fun. It’s not just about being silly and laughing, though there’s room for that, too. It’s about enjoying each other, and the process, and the remarkable things that happen when that’s happening together.

A family member asked me over the holidays if the intensity and volume of what Summit has going on stresses me out. Quickly, I said no. I am having too much fun to be weighed down, burdened by the magnitude of activity. It’s easy to have a blast when you love what you do, and the people around you do as well.

Welcome to Summit Coffee’s 2020. It’s going to be awesome.

link to original journal.