Posts in Women Entrepreneurs
Popeyes Serves Up a Turnaround

When Cheryl Bachelder took the helm at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, sales and profits were declining and shareholders and franchisees were unhappy. Today, sales are up, profits are up, and Popeyes stock has leaped from $13 on Cheryl's first day on the job to consistently over $50 per share today. So what's the secret ingredient to Popeyes’ turnaround? RightNow Media presents an @ Work Documentary that looks at how Cheryl's unique strategy of servant leadership proved to be a recipe for success.

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Podcast Episode 95 - Work, Love, and Women's Mentorship with Diane Paddison of 4word

We are so excited to share our interview with you today. Diane Paddison is the Founder and President of 4Word—a group where she is a leading advocate for the professional Christian women community. She is a Harvard MBA graduate, the former global executive of two Fortune 500 companies and one Fortune 1000 company, and she serves as an independent director for two corporations and four not-for-profits. She’s the real deal and we loved getting to talk with her and hear the incredible things they are doing to mentor businesswomen in the marketplace. Tune in to learn about the work she does at 4word and why women mentorship matters…

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Fired to Hired

She never became a high school choir director, but at Popeyes, Cheryl Bachelder has become a conductor of people. Her personal commitment to Jesus’ model of servant leadership has transformed the culture of a corporation. The impact of her faith can be felt throughout the company—from the executive offices to the restaurant’s front counter in the words “How may I serve you?” That’s music to Cheryl’s ears.

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Living a R.I.C.H. and Authentic Life (The Dwyer Group)

She might not be the person you would expect to see seated at the top of a company in a male-dominated industry. But Dina Dwyer-Owens, Executive Chairwoman of the Dwyer Group, is very comfortable at the helm of a company operating across the fifty United States and seven other countries around the world. She earned the position and re-earns it, every day in every way.

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Podcast Episode 81 - The Redemptive Nonprofit with Jena Nardella of Praxis

Today we’re in the Bay Area talking to Jena Nardella of Praxis. You may know Jena from some of her work improving clean water access around the world and her book titled One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It. Today she works on building the durability and sustainability of nonprofit organizations and leaders with Praxis and recently their team wrote a book called The Redemptive Nonprofit. We got to talk to her about all of this and more, and we think you’ll really enjoy what she had to share…

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Podcast Episode 72 - Has the Center of the Faith and Work Movement moved to Silicon Valley? with Christeen Rico

Today we’re in Cupertino, California connecting with Christeen Rico. She’s on the International Expansion team at Apple. She spends much of her time focused on bringing Apple's largest product—their retail stores—to life in new countries around the world. In addition to that, she is responsible for co-leading a volunteer team to define and execute programs that strengthen community and growth opportunities for the Apple Christian Fellowship, one of Apple'sDiversity Network Association. It’s a part of a growing trend that’s emerging in places like Facebook, SalesForce, Google, and many other companies. These are great movements for people looking to connect their faith to their work, and we’re excited to bring you all that Christeen had to share…

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Podcast Episode 69 - "One Million Followers Wasn’t in My Obituary" with Sanyin Siang of The Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics

We are so excited to get to share today’s interview with Sanyin Siang. She is the executive director of The Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics, and in addition to sharing what makes Coach K such an excellent coach and leader (hint: it has to do with enabling greatness instead of chasing it), she also told us why having 1 million followers on LinkedIn isn’t the thing she wants to be remembered for. It was so encouraging to hear her share how her identity and value is found first and foremost in what God says is true of her—that she is a beloved child of God. We think her energy and passion is contagious and hope you get a chance to listen in!

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Podcast Episode 65 - How Do You Build a Healthy Family and a Growing Business? with Ben and Liz Bohannon of Sseko Designs

Is it possible to have a healthy family while building a successful business? That’s the question at the heart of this week’s episode with Ben and Liz Bohannon of Sseko Designs. Their business began as a way to generate income for high-potential, talented young women in Uganda to continue on to university. Since then, it’s grown rapidly from a Shark Tank phenomenon to a global success. Hear how Ben and Liz are navigating the world of global business while still managing to focus on their home, their marriage, and their family.

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Podcast Episode 60 - How an Interview with Hulk Hogan on Their Wedding Day Started a $40 Million Business with Jeff and Ally Davidson of Camp Gladiator

When Ally Davidson woke up on the morning of her wedding day, she had no idea the journey that God had prepared for her, nor did she anticipate it would start with a tryout for the television show American Gladiator that very same day. Fast forward a few years and Camp Gladiator has over 3500 locations across the country with over 100,000 members. Tune in to hear the story of Jeff and Ally Davidson—how interacting with Hulk Hogan jump started their business, how they’ve seen community and exercise drastically affect people’s lives, and how their faith impacts everything they do.

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Why Passion Isn’t the Holy Grail of Work

“Our cultural obsession with passion as a prerequisite for work threatens to cut vocational formation off at the head. In other words, if we insist on using passion as a measure for what we ought to do—or worse, proverbially prostrate to passion as if it were the holy grail of work—we will stunt the rate at which we try things, iterate, and reflect. Trying things, iterating, and reflecting are some of our greatest tools for learning about how God is forming us and fitting us for this world.”

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A Second Chance at Weifield Electrical

In this Monday’s video, we take a look at Weifield Electrical’s amazing work to end poverty in Denver — through its hiring. The company offers 4 years of job training and a long career to those out of the penal system. A win for the company’s own workforce development but as Karla Nugent (Partner and Chief Business Development Officer) emphasizes — it’s a second chance for someone to get their life back on track!

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Podcast Episode 24 - Interview with Nancy Duarte

This is a special episode for us. One, we think, definitely worth hearing. Why? Well there are few things more important in our lives than effective story telling.

There are few better people (maybe no one??) that do a better job at helping people tell their stories than Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design. They help CEOs of Fortune 100 companies tell their stories, and maybe something more impressive: they are the “go-to” firm to help TED presenters tell their stories well.

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"One of the best investments"

Undoubtedly, you've come to understand that we are big fans of chaplaincy here at FDE.  Here's a video from one of entrepreneurs that Corporate Chaplains of America works with.  At Bandwidth, our first interaction with Corporate Chaplains of America was 10 years ago when Jeff Brown started visiting us every other Friday morning.  His impact on our staff was HUGE.  We'll tell that story on an upcoming blog.  In the meantime, please enjoy this video about Janet Ward Black's experience.

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VLOG, behind the scenes of the FDE podcast at Duarte Design

Good morning all!  To continue the practice of having Monday's blog be a bit more lighthearted, here's a quick 2 minute video on the making of the FDE podcast....though this is one without Rusty.   The VLOG concept is, in part, a reaction to David Morken's insistence that I'm actually not a great writer, and that I write, like I speak (he's probably right).

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A Well-Designed Journal Can Change Your Life

Mica May, founder and CEO of May Designs, took in what she just heard. The stern instructions came to her from Tory Johnson, a regular contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America. She needed samples of May’s notebooks for a feature she was hosting on gift ideas.

At the time, May was a staff-of-one, a scrappy entrepreneur working from her home. Thrilled about this opportunity for increased publicity, she shipped off a few of her classic notebook designs.

But then the show aired.

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