UNLEASHING YOUR TEAM
How A CEO Stopped Trying To Do Too Much And Unleashed His Team’ s Power
Coconut water purveyor Temple Lifestyle grew revenue by 34 % in one year by having its executive team unburden a CEO stretched thin. When Temple Lifestyle, the Montreal-based company behind brands such as Thirsty Buddha coconut water, did an exercise with a business coach to determine who was really handling key functions at the business like operations, HR, and innovation, the experience quickly turned into a comedy.
As every member of the 14-person team filled out the boxes in a form that indicates who does what, one name kept popping up: Chris Magnone. Magnone, 34, is the CEO Temple Lifestyle. He cofounded the company with sales director
Mark Cigos, 37, in 2008.
“ When the first couple of people started reading through their forms, it was kind of funny,” recalls Sabrina Silvestri, marketing director at the Montreal firm. But by the time everyone read their forms, the coach glanced over at Magnone and said,“ He must be exhausted,” recalls Silvestri, who happens to be Magnone’ s wife. As the team continued, the coach finally asked Magnone,“ Do you have a clone?”
That was in early 2015. Today, Magnone has no need for a clone.
Meanwhile, the company, which distributes to chains such as 7-11, HEB and Loblaws, has continued growing rapidly, expanding Buddha Brands
Co., the parent of Thirsty Buddha, into coconut chips, as well. Temple Lifestyle grew to $ 5.5 million in revenue in 2015, up from $ 4.1 million in 2014 and $ 2.5 million in 2013 and is profitable.
HOW THE FACE WORKS Temple Lifestyle, a brand developer and distributor in Montreal, completed the form as part of its work to implement the Scaling Up system for growing a business, a methodology it began using in November 2015. The form, known as the Function Accountability Chart( FACe), is an important element of the system.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, has emphasized the importance of getting the right butts in the right seats at the top of the organization. After all, the bottleneck is always at the top of the
20 | SPRING 2017