At Youth Enrichment Brands (YEB), we aim to change lives, and our commercial objective is to reach more kids. That clarity keeps everything aligned. There’s no confusion or currency exchange required to understand how our purpose feeds our business goals. For some large organizations, purpose has to be built around commercial objectives. In our case, it’s simple – our purpose is the driver.
Working in a purpose-led, service-based business has taught me that the day-to-day interactions with customers and franchisees can’t be programmatic. There’s a lot of situational awareness and improvisation required. It’s not like inventory management or statistical process control – though those things matter too. It’s about institutionalizing judgment and the whys behind what we do, so people can make abstract decisions with clear guidance. You have to explain not just what the policy is, but why it exists.
As YEB has grown globally, I’ve learned the importance of creating opportunities for genuine connection. At School of Rock (SoR), we’ve invested in large-scale, in-person events like Summerfest in Milwaukee and the All Stars Tour, and expanded them into global experiences. We’ve also built new gathering points outside the U.S., like Rock in Rio in Lisbon, which brought in schools from around the world. Alongside that, we hold weekly calls with owners, monthly webinars, and pilots including franchisees across continents. These moments help us stay connected as one community.
I often say I want to be the question, not the answer. That might sound ironic, since I’m explaining it, but it’s how I try to lead. I focus on three simple questions in nearly every interaction: How’s the team doing? How are you doing? What can I do to help? Those questions anchor everything. If you rush into advocacy or tactics, you might miss the most important insight.
When your business and your beliefs don’t align, your team feels it.
I also use questions as diagnostics. Have you considered this? Have you talked to so-and-so? Why is this the approach? Why do I sense frustration when you describe this? Those inquiries can feel intense, but they sharpen clarity and help people grow. It’s still management – it just comes with a question mark instead of an exclamation point.
The biggest connection between my previous time at SoR and what we’re now all doing together at YEB is the mission itself. We’re addressing what author Jonathan Haidt calls “the devolution from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood.” At School of Rock, I saw first-hand how music education could be a therapeutic, transformative experience. Now, I see that same potential in our other brands – sports, swimming, academic camps. The principle is the same: helping kids rediscover play, connection, and confidence.
For emerging founders or new CEOs, my advice is to do the work to map your values to how you actually create value. The world doesn’t lack admirable values, but too often, those values don’t connect to what the product or service delivers. When your business and your beliefs don’t align, your team feels it. But when they do, every day becomes a chance to live those values and test them in action.
Off the record
- I love music. I’m a pretty decent piano player, but still an underconfident guitarist, so I practice a lot.
- I’m a voracious reader of nonfiction. I’ve recently read The Anxious Generation and Nuclear War, and I’m about to start Dopamine Nation. I find these topics more thought-provoking than depressing.
- I’m a huge fan of the funk/soul band Vulfpeck. Since moving to Nashville, I’ve become a bit of a bluegrass fan too and, if the opportunity ever came up, I wouldn’t mind being the keyboardist for Steely Dan.
