The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

#297: Tero Isokauppila - CEO Of Four Sigmatic: Principled Based Leadership

Full show notes can be found at www.LearningLeader.com

Show Notes:

Commonalities of sustaining excellence:
- "They love what they do" -- Love the process. The work
- Humility/Excitement to learn -- they know things will change and they must adjust
- Listen more than you talk.
- Curiosity -- The Dalai Lama exemplifies this very well.
- Able to adjust -- Madonna is a prime example of being able to adjust and reinvent herself
How being a 13th generation farmer from Finland helped set the course for Tero's life -- "I have domain knowledge."
Finnish people consume more coffee per capita than anyone in the world
The idea of putting mushrooms in coffee came because of this
Super foods help with:
- Hormonal response
- Gut health
- Immune system
Four Sigmatic is a company built with super foods
The beginning -- "It all comes down to value generation. If you want to generate value, you have to see what others don't yet see."
Culture -- "You need to rally around people who believe in the mission."
Find believers and sponsors as your first employees -- his founding team were former teammates
- Get to know you team deeply -- how they think, feel, act, what motivates them
- Currently they have a fully distributed team of 37 people
The hiring process and qualities they look for. Four lenses:
- Can they do they job? -- Skills
- How will they fit in our culture? -- Fundamentals
- What do they cost? -- Financially and emotionally
- What is their growth potential?
- They must be "extra good" at communication - written and verbal. How do they write emails? Must be extra organized.
"Culture exists whether you want or not. It is what it is."
Their principles:
- S - Stay healthy, eat well, exercise
- W - We are us, not them
- A - Always carry product
- R - Results with freedom -- KPI
- M - Make it grow, let it go
Examples of innovation