December 9, 2025 • 11 mins
James D. White is a seasoned corporate leader with over thirty years' experience in the consumer products, retail, and restaurant industries. As CEO of Jamba Juice from 2008–2016, he led the successful turnaround and transformation of the company. He is an experienced corporate director and adviser with twenty years of experience serving on more than fifteen public and private boards. White currently chairs the board of the Honest Company.
James explains why he believes that culture is essential building block for an organization’s success, and details his new book, "Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose," which he co-wrote with his daughter, Krista. James speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. Carol,
you know, I'm from this small town on the central
coast of California.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Wait, you're from California. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It's known for a few things. We've got the last
operating nuclear power plan in the state. You do, That's
why I'm glowing. Yes, Hurst Castle is right there.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, it is right. Yeah, I forgot about that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Also, there's this little smoothie shop. When I was growing up,
it was called Juice Club and on for special treats
after school, I would get to go to Juice Club.
My parents would take me there or a babysitter would
take us there.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It's like you loved it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it was started by this guy who went to
cal Poly and Juice Club is what John Bajuice was
before they did a rebrand, did an IPO and became
the company that it's known for now.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So John Bajuice is it began? It began his Juice
Club on you know on James D. White knows all
about this. He's former CEO of John Bajuice. He led
it from two thousand and eight to twenty sixteen. He's
also the author of several books. His new book out
this month along with Christa White, called Culture Design, How
to Build a High Performing Resilient Organization with Purpose. He's
(01:15):
also the chairman of the board of The Honest Company.
He's co founder, chair and CEO of Culture Design Lab.
He's a board member at the fast casual chain Kava.
He joins U from Scottsdale, Arizona. Good to have you
on the program, James, how are.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You, dam and Carl? Thanks for hosting.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Me when you were CEO of john But did you
ever get to go to that foothill location in San
Luis Obispo. Absolutely the original that was the one.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Okay, that's amazing, and got to spend time with Kirk
Paar and the fantastic founder who we lost a.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Few years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, very tragic. Well, I want to talk a little
bit about culture Design, how to build a high performing
resilient organization with purpose. But first I just want to
remind everybody about what Jomba Juice was when you were
leading it from two thousand and eight to twenty sixteen.
It's now owned by a private equity firm, but it
did have a life as a publicly traded company. What
(02:11):
was Jamba Juice under your tenure?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, I joined Jamba in December two thousand.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And eight and led the company through a turnaround in transformation.
We were a public company. Market cap over my tenure
increase by five hundred percent. We really repositioned the company
from a smoothie chain to more healthy lifestyle brand. But
(02:42):
had a great run, you know, twenty eight quarters as
a public company.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
CEO, So tell us about like going through your experiences
and kind of what you learned in terms of running
a company, building a company, going through different cycles. What
that has taught you.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I think for me, the place I always started, I
just go back to, really my first week on the
job at Jamba is you start with the people, You
start with the key stakeholders. And you know, for me,
as I go back to that first week, we asked,
you know, four simple questions, what should the organization start doing,
what should we stop doing?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And what are the things that are working well that
we should continue.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
And then the final bonus question is what advice would
you have for me as CEO? And we really leverage
that approach with really all of our stakeholder groups and
use that to build a plan to turn around and
transform the company.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But I always start with people first.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The thesis of our book is companies have culture by
designer default, so always be intentional in building a company's culture.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So, so talk about who those key stakeholders are, and
then I have this this follow up quite that I
think Carol will nod because she kind of knows exactly
where I'm going. When you when you started, when you
start on a board or when you're you know, a
decision maker at a company, who are the stakeholders you
speak to understand the culture.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, I always start with the employees because they actually
know what actually needs to be done to you know,
really re energize or strengthen the company. So I started
with the one hundred or so employees that we're in
our support center that supported all our stores. Obviously the
frontline workforce is a source of fantastic input the border directors,
(04:39):
key suppliers, but also we talk to consumers as a
part of that process. As we formulated the original Transformation
Planet job book.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So connect that with company performance because every you know
in Zoom just report earnings, for example, and when we
look at any company that reports it's most recent quarter,
we talk about numbers like the outlook. We talk about
top line revenue, we talk about margins, we talk about outlooks,
or we talk about what happened in the current quarter.
(05:11):
What we don't talk about is the company's culture. We
don't talk about how happy employees are or if they're
not happy. We don't talk about customer satisfaction because investors
don't necessarily trade on those things. How do you connect
those non tangibles to the actual numbers that a public
company reports.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, the way I think about it is and I've
got a colleague amount of board Talaga Moment says, the
human capital drives the financial capital, and that directly relates
to the people and relates to the company culture. We
think about culture being the huge unlock in this environment,
and the reason we wrote the book Culture Design is
(05:53):
we felt like with the dramatic change over the course
of the last five years, the thing that we've not
talked about as much as we need to as we
look at hybrid work the influences of AI is the
company culture and how that shift needs to happen. The
best companies become change savvy in terms of how they
(06:18):
lead the companies moving forward. And the book has three pillars,
Knowing what matters, that's really about the context that the
company operates in doing what matters? How do you operationalize culture?
How does culture really live day to day inside an organization?
And then anything in business that matters, you actually measure
it in the You know, there are both hard and
(06:42):
soft measurements. You know, employee engagement, there's pole surveys, there's
net promoter scores, but there's employee net promoter scores that
are one of the things that I find incredibly helpful.
But the best leaders are thinking harder about this, whether
they're in the boardroom or running companies today.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Hey, James, one thing I want to ask you, and
I'm just curious you wrote this with your daughter Christa,
And I was just looking at one thing in I
think it's page ninety six here, and how she has
kind of taught you that an effective leader actually shares
a lot of their life journey is a lot more
(07:25):
transparent with folks at work. And it's interesting, like I've
often heard people like your personal life is your personal
life don't bring it to the office, keep them separate,
like you just don't share stuff, and yet you know
your lifeline is in there and like all the things
that you've gone through in your life. And I'm just
the importance of like leaders and leadership sharing their life
(07:49):
journey with the folks that work with them.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
We think that empathy is really a core capability. And
one of the things that I've learned in my work
with my Malae daughter is kind of sharing more of
myself really strengthens the ability for me to connect with
leaders and people on a really different level. So this
(08:16):
is not really where I started as a leader, but
have kind of learned this over the arc of a
career and it's really a force multiplier. When we get
to know each other as human beings, we can find
the things that are common. And what I found from
a leadership perspective is that allows you to unlock the
full potential of the organization by being more human and
(08:39):
kind of humanizing the leader. We interviewed one leader that
describes his version of this is he provides new teams
that he joined Sam Wright. He runs Google Play. He
describes a user manual on how to best work with
him as a leader, and he does some of the
same kinds of things where he shared information on his
(09:01):
family and background, which is really a shortcut to how
we might work best together as colleagues.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
James, before we let you go, you've you've written this
is not your first book that you've written along with
your daughter Christa. Back in twenty twenty two, you wrote
Anti Racist Leadership, How to Transform Corporate Culture in a
Race conscious World. We spent a lot of time, Jarl
and I've been doing this together for five years, and
over that period of time, the conversation around DEI has
(09:28):
changed a lot. Most recently, the iteration is these companies
getting rid of DEI programs, not talking about.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It any not being a conversation around Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean we're talking. We're doing a deep dive on
Target in just a few minutes, and they've gone through
their own issues with this. I'm just wondering what the
state of how you viewed DEI and anti racism now
in twenty twenty five, and how that's different among a
C suite executives versus twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So I think the conversation has definitely changed, But I
think the best leaders at least the best leaders that
I work with, they've got a true north. They're very
focused on their values and they know that if you
put people first and you create an environment where all
(10:19):
the humans get to do their best work, you're going
to always win. And what I always advise companies and
the leaders that I work with, the labeling of things
I'm less concerned with. I'm more concerned with, you know,
really the true north of the organization and how we
focused on creating environments where everybody can do the very
(10:40):
best work, and that starts with people and it starts
with culture by design.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I would assume that then that is like if you
had to give one piece of advice to leaders that
are out there and they get so much advice, but
I'm just curious, is that what it would be or
something else? And just got about forty seconds here.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It would be, you know, really put the human beings,
the people in your organization first and work hard to
create and design environments where they can do their very
best work and bring their full selves to the organization.
And I think it will yield great benefits that will
deliver high performance results.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, very much appreciate it, James, Thank you. So much.
James D. White, former CEO of Jahn Bajuice. He led
the company from twenty eight to twenty sixteen. He is
the co author of a book that he did with
his daughter. A second book that he did with his daughter.
This book though Culture Design, How to build a high performing,
resilient organization with Purpose, And you can catch that book.
(11:39):
It is out now. James, thank you so much.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. You're listening to Bloomberg
Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenoveek on Bloomberg Radio. Carol,
you know, I'm from this small town on the central
coast of California.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Wait, you're from California. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
It's known for a few things. We've got the last
operating nuclear power plan in the state. You do, That's
why I'm glowing. Yes, Hurst Castle is right there.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, it is right. Yeah, I forgot about that.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Also, there's this little smoothie shop. When I was growing up,
it was called Juice Club and on for special treats
after school, I would get to go to Juice Club.
My parents would take me there or a babysitter would
take us there.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
It's like you loved it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yeah, it was started by this guy who went to
cal Poly and Juice Club is what John Bajuice was
before they did a rebrand, did an IPO and became
the company that it's known for now.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
So John Bajuice is it began? It began his Juice
Club on you know on James D. White knows all
about this. He's former CEO of John Bajuice. He led
it from two thousand and eight to twenty sixteen. He's
also the author of several books. His new book out
this month along with Christa White, called Culture Design, How
to Build a High Performing Resilient Organization with Purpose. He's
(01:15):
also the chairman of the board of The Honest Company.
He's co founder, chair and CEO of Culture Design Lab.
He's a board member at the fast casual chain Kava.
He joins U from Scottsdale, Arizona. Good to have you
on the program, James, how are.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
You, dam and Carl? Thanks for hosting.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Me when you were CEO of john But did you
ever get to go to that foothill location in San
Luis Obispo. Absolutely the original that was the one.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Okay, that's amazing, and got to spend time with Kirk
Paar and the fantastic founder who we lost a.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Few years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, very tragic. Well, I want to talk a little
bit about culture Design, how to build a high performing
resilient organization with purpose. But first I just want to
remind everybody about what Jomba Juice was when you were
leading it from two thousand and eight to twenty sixteen.
It's now owned by a private equity firm, but it
did have a life as a publicly traded company. What
(02:11):
was Jamba Juice under your tenure?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, I joined Jamba in December two thousand.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
And eight and led the company through a turnaround in transformation.
We were a public company. Market cap over my tenure
increase by five hundred percent. We really repositioned the company
from a smoothie chain to more healthy lifestyle brand. But
(02:42):
had a great run, you know, twenty eight quarters as
a public company.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
CEO, So tell us about like going through your experiences
and kind of what you learned in terms of running
a company, building a company, going through different cycles. What
that has taught you.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
I think for me, the place I always started, I
just go back to, really my first week on the
job at Jamba is you start with the people, You
start with the key stakeholders. And you know, for me,
as I go back to that first week, we asked,
you know, four simple questions, what should the organization start doing,
what should we stop doing?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
And what are the things that are working well that
we should continue.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
And then the final bonus question is what advice would
you have for me as CEO? And we really leverage
that approach with really all of our stakeholder groups and
use that to build a plan to turn around and
transform the company.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
But I always start with people first.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
The thesis of our book is companies have culture by
designer default, so always be intentional in building a company's culture.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So, so talk about who those key stakeholders are, and
then I have this this follow up quite that I
think Carol will nod because she kind of knows exactly
where I'm going. When you when you started, when you
start on a board or when you're you know, a
decision maker at a company, who are the stakeholders you
speak to understand the culture.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, I always start with the employees because they actually
know what actually needs to be done to you know,
really re energize or strengthen the company. So I started
with the one hundred or so employees that we're in
our support center that supported all our stores. Obviously the
frontline workforce is a source of fantastic input the border directors,
(04:39):
key suppliers, but also we talk to consumers as a
part of that process. As we formulated the original Transformation
Planet job book.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
So connect that with company performance because every you know
in Zoom just report earnings, for example, and when we
look at any company that reports it's most recent quarter,
we talk about numbers like the outlook. We talk about
top line revenue, we talk about margins, we talk about outlooks,
or we talk about what happened in the current quarter.
(05:11):
What we don't talk about is the company's culture. We
don't talk about how happy employees are or if they're
not happy. We don't talk about customer satisfaction because investors
don't necessarily trade on those things. How do you connect
those non tangibles to the actual numbers that a public
company reports.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yeah, the way I think about it is and I've
got a colleague amount of board Talaga Moment says, the
human capital drives the financial capital, and that directly relates
to the people and relates to the company culture. We
think about culture being the huge unlock in this environment,
and the reason we wrote the book Culture Design is
(05:53):
we felt like with the dramatic change over the course
of the last five years, the thing that we've not
talked about as much as we need to as we
look at hybrid work the influences of AI is the
company culture and how that shift needs to happen. The
best companies become change savvy in terms of how they
(06:18):
lead the companies moving forward. And the book has three pillars,
Knowing what matters, that's really about the context that the
company operates in doing what matters? How do you operationalize culture?
How does culture really live day to day inside an organization?
And then anything in business that matters, you actually measure
it in the You know, there are both hard and
(06:42):
soft measurements. You know, employee engagement, there's pole surveys, there's
net promoter scores, but there's employee net promoter scores that
are one of the things that I find incredibly helpful.
But the best leaders are thinking harder about this, whether
they're in the boardroom or running companies today.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Hey, James, one thing I want to ask you, and
I'm just curious you wrote this with your daughter Christa,
And I was just looking at one thing in I
think it's page ninety six here, and how she has
kind of taught you that an effective leader actually shares
a lot of their life journey is a lot more
(07:25):
transparent with folks at work. And it's interesting, like I've
often heard people like your personal life is your personal
life don't bring it to the office, keep them separate,
like you just don't share stuff, and yet you know
your lifeline is in there and like all the things
that you've gone through in your life. And I'm just
the importance of like leaders and leadership sharing their life
(07:49):
journey with the folks that work with them.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
We think that empathy is really a core capability. And
one of the things that I've learned in my work
with my Malae daughter is kind of sharing more of
myself really strengthens the ability for me to connect with
leaders and people on a really different level. So this
(08:16):
is not really where I started as a leader, but
have kind of learned this over the arc of a
career and it's really a force multiplier. When we get
to know each other as human beings, we can find
the things that are common. And what I found from
a leadership perspective is that allows you to unlock the
full potential of the organization by being more human and
(08:39):
kind of humanizing the leader. We interviewed one leader that
describes his version of this is he provides new teams
that he joined Sam Wright. He runs Google Play. He
describes a user manual on how to best work with
him as a leader, and he does some of the
same kinds of things where he shared information on his
(09:01):
family and background, which is really a shortcut to how
we might work best together as colleagues.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
James, before we let you go, you've you've written this
is not your first book that you've written along with
your daughter Christa. Back in twenty twenty two, you wrote
Anti Racist Leadership, How to Transform Corporate Culture in a
Race conscious World. We spent a lot of time, Jarl
and I've been doing this together for five years, and
over that period of time, the conversation around DEI has
(09:28):
changed a lot. Most recently, the iteration is these companies
getting rid of DEI programs, not talking about.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
It any not being a conversation around Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I mean we're talking. We're doing a deep dive on
Target in just a few minutes, and they've gone through
their own issues with this. I'm just wondering what the
state of how you viewed DEI and anti racism now
in twenty twenty five, and how that's different among a
C suite executives versus twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
So I think the conversation has definitely changed, But I
think the best leaders at least the best leaders that
I work with, they've got a true north. They're very
focused on their values and they know that if you
put people first and you create an environment where all
(10:19):
the humans get to do their best work, you're going
to always win. And what I always advise companies and
the leaders that I work with, the labeling of things
I'm less concerned with. I'm more concerned with, you know,
really the true north of the organization and how we
focused on creating environments where everybody can do the very
(10:40):
best work, and that starts with people and it starts
with culture by design.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I would assume that then that is like if you
had to give one piece of advice to leaders that
are out there and they get so much advice, but
I'm just curious, is that what it would be or
something else? And just got about forty seconds here.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
It would be, you know, really put the human beings,
the people in your organization first and work hard to
create and design environments where they can do their very
best work and bring their full selves to the organization.
And I think it will yield great benefits that will
deliver high performance results.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Well, very much appreciate it, James, Thank you. So much.
James D. White, former CEO of Jahn Bajuice. He led
the company from twenty eight to twenty sixteen. He is
the co author of a book that he did with
his daughter. A second book that he did with his daughter.
This book though Culture Design, How to build a high performing,
resilient organization with Purpose, And you can catch that book.
(11:39):
It is out now. James, thank you so much.
Hosts And Creators
Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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