Q&A with the Founder and CEO of GoodSport Nutrition
The founder and CEO of GoodSport Nutrition, Michelle McBride shares her career path, advice, lessons learned and more in a casual sit-down conversation.
Education: Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Juris Doctorate from Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Favorite Quote: “What good shall I do this day?” —Benjamin Franklin
Most Valued Books on Business: Dare to Lead by Brené Brown, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, Entrepreneurial Finance by Steven Rogers.
Describe your career path?
I started my career as a trial attorney and then transitioned into a business development role with a legal technology consulting company. I was working as a non-profit executive when I had the idea for GoodSport and took the leap to becoming an entrepreneur.
What have you learned that could be applied to farmers?
I think there are several business lessons that are pretty universal.
- Commit, then figure it out. People tend to approach ideas or situations with the attitude that if they personally don’t know how to do X,Y or Z or fix X,Y, or Z, then they can’t do it. Commit to the idea; don’t try to solve for it. Just commit to doing it. Then, use every resource in your arsenal to figure out how.
- If it were easy, then everyone would do it. I recently read David Goggin’s new book, Never Finished, and loved this quote: “There is great beauty when you are involved in something that is so hard most people want it to end.” He was referring to a crazy 100-mile race he was participating in, but I think it applies to business as well. When I am up late working, traveling a lot or dealing with various business challenges, it gets hard, but I remind myself, not everyone is cut out for this, and I let that fuel me.
- Have a sense of humor. If you are going to survive in any business, you have to have a sense of humor. You need to be able to laugh at situations and at yourself so the stress doesn’t bury you.
What is a leadership lesson that you’ve learned in your career?
Leaders really do set the tone and create the culture for their companies. You must lead by example.
What is your leadership philosophy?
My leadership philosophy is to create a caring and collaborative culture where everyone is encouraged to participate. I certainly don’t have all of the answers. We built a team of people that bring not only incredible experience but diverse perspectives. I want the entire team to feel supported and cared for so that they, in turn, feel safe to share their ideas and empowered to collaborate.
