Simplifying How You Work | with Alissa Partee (Restaurant Technologies)

Food brings people together – for thousands of years humans have come together over food to celebrate and to grieve. Working with some of the biggest food brand industries locally, Alissa Partee brings two core beliefs to her leadership role as Chief People Officer at Restaurant Technologies: lead with love and clarity. In this episode, host Chris Dardis explores with Alissa:

• The number one mistake business leaders make in employee and system development
•  How to build a high-performing team that achieves the business’ strategic goals
• What an HR team needs to know about being in a workplace that drives business

“I want somebody to be able to say 20 years from now, I was able to do something better for my family or my community because of the environment that I was placed in and supported in. And so whatever I can do to contribute to somebody else’s success or ability to give back or do something that they hadn’t been able to do.” -Alissa Partee

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Episode Transcript

Chris Dardis (00:03):
everyone has a story that's shaped them.
People make it possible is acareer growth podcast focused on
inspiring stories fromsuccessful business leaders.
This podcast is meant forexecutives and professionals
looking to invest in themselves.
In this podcast, we willchallenge the assumptions behind
climbing the traditionalcorporate ladder and explore
pivotal stories that shape usall in our unique journeys.

(00:27):
Let's explore why it's peoplewho make it past.

Alissa (00:32):
Hello everyone.
I am Chris Daris.
Welcome back to People.
Make It Possible.
Today we have a very specialguest.
We

Chris (00:38):
have

Alissa (00:38):
Alyssa Party with us.
She is the Chief People Officerat Restaurant Technologies.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Now, you said that this is yourvery first podcast.
First podcast I'm like in thepodcast world, but I'm on the
listening side.
Ah, yes.
So behind the mic is first time.
Okay.

Chris (00:56):
Well,

Alissa (00:56):
very good one.
So thank you.
Yeah.
We recently got to know eachother.
We we've been in the HRindustries for a long, long
time.
Mm-hmm.
But finally

Chris (01:03):
got

Alissa (01:03):
a chance to meet and I was really I was really
interested in hearing your storyand after lunch I'm even more
excited to share it because Ithink it's really unique.
We'll talk a little bit aboutskydiving.
We'll talk a little bit aboutyour movement within your
career.
but first off, I think one ofthe most unique pieces about you
and your background is you grewup in Northern Minnesota, and

(01:24):
we're not

Chris (01:24):
talking Blaine.

Alissa (01:26):
You grew up in Northern Minnesota, like Iron Range.
Correct.
Iron Range, yeah.
So I was born and raised for myreally early childhood days in
embarrassed Minnesota.
Mm-hmm.
Which is.
Just outside of Virginia.
And actually a funny story whenI ended up moving, part of the
moving conversation we'll haveis I remember when I told
Buffalo Wild Wings, I was gonnabe leaving for Marvin Windows.

(01:48):
And I

Chris (01:48):
said, it's a,

Alissa (01:49):
can't tell you right now, but it's a northern
Minnesota manufacturing firm.
And

Chris (01:53):
And

Alissa (01:53):
they said, somebody said like, Blaine, so that's funny
that you say Blaine.
I was like, and I was like, no,like North.
They're like, Brainard.
And I'm like, keep going.
No, like.
Go way up to the Canadianborder.
So,

Chris (02:08):
yeah, it's

Alissa (02:09):
small little town.
And have, my maiden name ismore, is prominent up there.
It's Pep and Jack and just agreat little place to be from.
Yeah.
But that's, and you, and youwere talking about kind of
growing up there yet.
Early in your family history,you guys moved quite a bit.
Yeah.
And I think the numbers are, youmoved nine times before the age

(02:31):
of 25.
Is that

Chris (02:33):
right?
Right.

Alissa (02:33):
So what spurred that?
So my dad is a retired Lutheran

Chris (02:37):
minister.

Alissa (02:38):
When he turned 40, he sold the family business and
told my, what was that?
Family business.
So he sold outdoor recreationand power equipment.

Chris (02:47):
So,

Alissa (02:48):
Lawnmowers and snowmobiles and boats and
anything that you would have funoutside or be put to work
outside.
He sold a little company calledVoyager Sports and he had this
midlife revelation I would callit, and said, I want to go into
seminary.
And my mom was locked arms withhim and said, okay, here we go.

(03:10):
And that kicked off a series ofmoves related to

Chris (03:15):
his education.

Alissa (03:16):
Yeah.
And then a couple differentcalls post his education and I
think contributes a lot to theability to kind of pick up and
stay light on your feet.
Yeah.
Thankfully had

Chris (03:28):
sisters

Alissa (03:29):
to kind of break into new schools with, but it, it
probably got me outta my comfortzone really

Chris (03:35):
early

Alissa (03:37):
And allowed me to probably get into uncomfortable
new situations with a little bitmore ease.
So when he went in

Chris (03:43):
the seminary,

Alissa (03:44):
how old were you in that?
First grade is when we ended upour first move.
Okay.
Down to Minneapolis to be withhim when he was going through
seminary.
Okay.
And every year?
First grade, second grade, thirdgrade, fourth grade, and fifth
grade we moved.
Some of that was out in Montana,some of us back to Minneapolis.
Then we moved out to a townnorth of Minot, North Dakota.

(04:06):
Stayed there for a few years andI remember my junior year they
said, we're moving again.
And I remember thinking, I hateyou.
Yeah.
But we moved one more time whenI was still living at home,
moved to Detroit Lakes,Minnesota.
My parents are still there.
Okay.
And they have a great lake placethat we can go and.
Visit on the weekends or anytimewe want,

Chris (04:28):
and

Alissa (04:28):
I kind of continue to keep moving from there.
Yeah, I love, love that.
And you get to enjoy Zorba everyonce in a while.
Zorbas is great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to dl.
I lived there for three yearstoo.
I think it's such a fun place.
Yeah, it's great.
Such a great little city doing alot of great things.
Actually, the city's doingamazing work On that city.
Oh good.

Chris (04:46):
So it's fun to see like that

Alissa (04:47):
in Perham.
They're just all coming to life.
It's great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Perham Turkey days is always afun, he's always a fun time.
For sure.
So, so growing up in that sortof environment, moving from
place to place, how has thataffected you now?
Like if your

Chris (05:00):
husband

Alissa (05:00):
would come home and say, Hey we're going to

Chris (05:02):
to

Alissa (05:02):
move.
You would say, well, I wouldprobably say Okay.
I would be on board.
I would, I would not bring itforward.
Okay.
Okay.
But if he had a compellingreason and we said, Hey, for
whatever reason, his experienceor

Chris (05:16):
better

Alissa (05:16):
for the kids or whatever it might be, I would, I would
get on board.
Sure.
There's a compelling re You sawyour mom do that for your
father?
Yeah, she supported him.
Yeah.

Chris (05:24):
Yeah.

Alissa (05:24):
So do you, do you feel like your personality now today,
There is a part of yourpersonality that was formed
through all that change andthrough all that trust in moving
into new places and meeting newfriends and everything like
that?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think a big part of

Chris (05:39):
it is

Alissa (05:39):
coming into a completely new situation, new group of
people, whether

Chris (05:45):
it's

Alissa (05:45):
like at church or at school or at work or whatever it
might be.
And it was like, hi, I'm newhere again.
Yeah.
And sometimes people have nevergone through that.

Chris (05:56):
They've

Alissa (05:57):
never moved.
Mm-hmm.
They've never left a circle oftheir own.
And mine was a little bit forcedupon me.
Right.
I didn't have a choice when Iwas in

Chris (06:06):
second grade

Alissa (06:06):
and they're like, Hey, we're moving out to Montana.
It was like, no, I'm gonna juststay in Minneapolis.
That's not gonna happen.
But it puts you in a position ofsaying, I new here.
Yeah.

Chris (06:14):
Yeah.
And

Alissa (06:14):
also learning what it's like for other people to be in
those same shoes and the they're

Chris (06:19):
new

Alissa (06:20):
and how do you make them feel welcome, welcome and
comfortable, and, yeah.
You know, bring em on in.
And so I think it's personallyaffected me, but it changed also
how

Chris (06:30):
I

Alissa (06:31):
lead in a lot of cases.
Hmm.
Welcoming new people into theteam or into the company.
Helping people get on up tospeed quickly.
But that uncomfortableness, Imean, it wasn't easy at first.
I think it gets easier over timewhen you get plopped into a new
situation.
But at first it was hard.
Yeah.
I was like, ah, I'm new hereagain.
Yeah.

(06:52):
And it was a big, it's a bigpart of who I am.
Yeah.
That's,

Chris (06:57):
and I, I

Alissa (06:58):
wonder, you know, I joked about skydiving, but Yeah.
You have done that.
You have stared out the openDoor of an airplane.
You jumped out of it.
Right.
Does, does it, does that sortof, kind of

Chris (07:07):
facing

Alissa (07:08):
that much newness as a child early.
That's a lot of overcoming fear.
So, and I, I think so in, inknowing you, in meeting, you
have a couple different timesyou strike me

Chris (07:20):
as somebody

Alissa (07:21):
who ha kind of has, similar to our last podcast with
Kristen Dean, kind of a no fearmentality where you're, you, you
will just kind of go afterthings that you want.
Yeah.
Well, and also like, There's alot of situations that somebody
could say, I'm going to benervous or fearful about this.
Yeah.
Rarely am I in a life or death,death situation.
Moving is not a life or deathsituation.

(07:43):
Yeah.
I'm gonna be okay.
That's what I've learned.
Over time, things are going tobe

Chris (07:47):
okay.
Hmm.

Alissa (07:48):
Even when a crisis comes up at

Chris (07:49):
work, it's,

Alissa (07:50):
Hey, we're not saving lives here.
We're trying to make it a littlebit easier for, in my business
today, restaurants to operate.
But it kind of puts things intoperspective of like, what's
really hard.
Yeah.
Moving's not really hard.
It's a pain in the, you knowwhat, but It's not hard.
Yeah.
Comparatively to othersituations that somebody could
be faced with when withoutUprooting your home again.

(08:13):
Yeah.
So you've worked with somefantastic companies.
We're gonna, we're gonna focuson a couple of them.
The first one I wanna start outwith is you were at Buffalo Wild
Wings, and then you decided tomake that move kind of back to
the area in which you grew up towork for Marvin.
Yes.
And Marvin located in, is it WarRoad?
We're Road, Minnesota, which islike on the Canadian border,

(08:33):
three miles

Chris (08:33):
south of the Canadian border.

Alissa (08:35):
So I grew up with a deep respect for Marvin.
They're a very incredibly wellrun business and incredible
product, an incrediblededication to the people they
bring on board.
Yeah.
And it was interesting.
I left Buffalo Wild Wings and.
Double digit, top line, doubledigit, bottom line, opening a
new store every few days.

(08:57):
Just an incredible, they werelike the bell of the ball when
it comes to fast casualrestaurants.
And it was fun and I was able toput that on my resume as high

Chris (09:09):
growth.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (09:10):
High energy company, incredible leadership.
At the top with Sally and Maryat the time, and.
So it was hard to leave.
Yeah.
What,

Chris (09:20):
what spurred that?
What

Alissa (09:22):
part?
Part of it was, I don't know ifI'll have another chance to work
with a company like Marvin.
Mm-hmm.
And this was post like thebanking recession.
So it was in

Chris (09:33):
2010 that

Alissa (09:35):
I decided to try something

Chris (09:37):
and

Alissa (09:37):
they were going through their own tough time.
I mean, the housing recession.
Yeah.
Really, really challengedMarvin.
And for them to weather a stormwithout laying people off like
that, you gotta say they havesomething really unique there.
Hmm.
And started to meet the peopleand I

Chris (09:56):
like,

Alissa (09:56):
I, there's something special

Chris (09:57):
here.
So I

Alissa (09:58):
talked to Justin, my husband's from Texas.
I have literally moved him northever since I met him.
He, we couldn't get furthernorth and stay in the states.
And he thought I was crazy.
He was like, what?
And but then as soon as he meetsthe people at Marvin, he is
like, wow, there is somethingspecial

Chris (10:14):
here.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (10:14):
Mm-hmm.

Chris (10:15):
And

Alissa (10:16):
spent seven years with him.
It went fast.
It was remarkable.
Mm-hmm.
I had friends who were likefamily up there.
We didn't have family up there.
And that's one thing about smalltowns is did

Chris (10:26):
get to

Alissa (10:27):
be Yeah.
They get, they become yourfamily.
How real is the hockeyphenomenon up there?
Did you, were your kids indatedin very quickly?
Yeah.
I remember getting the tiniestskates for Carter when he was
just a year old and I think itwas actually Paul Marvin as my
Paul or Christine.
They said, Hey, I got a pair hecould try.

(10:48):
And they were inches, like hewas barely walking.
And they're like, we're gonnaget him on the

Chris (10:53):
ice.
Yeah,

Alissa (10:53):
because he is probably behind, probably behind.
It's everything up there.
Yeah.
And it brings a communitytogether.
There's a, a big investment thatthey make in the kids and the
program.
But you would be silly to moveto Warroad and not experience
that.

Chris (11:09):
Yeah, yeah,

Alissa (11:10):
for sure.
But Friday nights at the rink orany night that there was a
hockey game at the rink, it wasjust unbelievable.
Well, your husband Justin couldprobably attest.
It's, it's almost like.
Football in Texas.
Totally.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, totally.
So in when we first met, youtalked about what a difficult
decision that was for you toleave Marvin because of the
wonderful leadership in thecompany.
And it kind of felt like homebecause you grew up Yeah.

(11:30):
There as well.

Chris (11:31):
But

Alissa (11:31):
moving back down to the cities for your opportunity at
restaurant, correct?
No.
So I ended up moving down towork with Caribou Coffee.
Oh yes.
Okay.
And so had the opportunity, Iremember talking to Marvin, this
was before.
You know, working from a placeoutside of the home office.
Home office is what was inWarroad.
Yeah.

(11:52):
And Justin traveled all the timefor work.
He was gone most of the time.
I've got three young kids and Isaid, this is hard.
And ended up having a chance tosay, I would like to move to the
Eagan office for Marvin.
I wanna stay with you.
And it just wasn't.
The right time for them to makethat call.
Yeah.
And so I, I knew maybe thewriting was on the wall, that if

(12:14):
I really wanted to get someplaceeasier for Justin to do his job
right, closer to an airportmm-hmm.
Eventually I'd probably have toleave.
Marvin and I went through, nolie, every stage of grief,
leaving Marvin and You know,people say, keep the emotion
outta work.
It was impossible.
Hmm.
I always say you have one headand one heart.

(12:37):
And if you separate those at

Chris (12:38):
the door

Alissa (12:39):
coming into your workplace, you're dead.
Yeah.

Chris (12:42):
So I couldn't

Alissa (12:43):
separate the two when I'm saying I

Chris (12:45):
wanna be here, but I also know I need to do something

Alissa (12:48):
different for my family.
Oh man.

Chris (12:50):
man.

Alissa (12:50):
That one

Chris (12:51):
one heart

Alissa (12:51):
that

Chris (12:52):
I really like that.

Alissa (12:53):
So undeniably that's been

Chris (12:55):
a part

Alissa (12:56):
of who you are as a leader

Chris (12:57):
because

Alissa (12:58):
When I watch you talk about it, you can see.
How much

Chris (13:01):
you truly believe in that

Alissa (13:03):
culture that they've ingrained.
Yeah.
It was remarkable.

Chris (13:05):
Had the luxury of choosing

Alissa (13:08):
to pick

Chris (13:09):
something that

Alissa (13:09):
thought was equally

Chris (13:10):
as great.
Yeah.

Alissa (13:12):
And

Chris (13:12):
I fully recognize that not everybody has the chance to
truly be picky when they come

Alissa (13:17):
to their next opportunity.

Chris (13:19):
So I say it's a luxury to have that.
Yep.

Alissa (13:21):
And picking Caribou was another

Chris (13:23):
wonderful couple

Alissa (13:24):
years with them.

Chris (13:25):
Met some incredible people and

Alissa (13:28):
spent

Chris (13:28):
time, a lot of time in Minneapolis, a lot of

Alissa (13:30):
time

Chris (13:31):
in Denver.
But love getting back into

Alissa (13:34):
the

Chris (13:34):
restaurant industry.

Alissa (13:36):
I believe.
In my heart

Chris (13:37):
of hearts, food brings people together.
Yep.
And it's the one thing thatwe've done for thousands of
years is we come together overfood.
So people celebrate

Alissa (13:51):
big things with

Chris (13:51):
food.
They

Alissa (13:52):
celebrate losses

Chris (13:54):
over food.

Alissa (13:55):
When somebody has a big celebration, what do they bring?

Chris (13:57):
Food

Alissa (13:58):
they bring.
Yeah.
If you lose

Chris (13:59):
a loved one, what do people bring?
Food.
I love that you're able to tie.
That sort of

Alissa (14:04):
why into the, the

Chris (14:06):
industries that you've been a part of and thinking of,

Alissa (14:09):
you've worked for some of

Chris (14:10):
the biggest food name industries here locally and
brands like Marvin.
When we,

Alissa (14:16):
you first told

Chris (14:17):
me about restaurant technologies and how they make
money and what they do, For

Alissa (14:21):
the food industry.
I

Chris (14:22):
fascinated.
I can't now go to a

Alissa (14:25):
restaurant without looking at

Chris (14:26):
the fries and saying, okay, I wonder how the oil is

Alissa (14:29):
like

Chris (14:29):
for these fries.
So if you, if you could, because

Alissa (14:32):
I think restaurant technologies where you're
currently the cpo Yeah.

Chris (14:35):
Is

Alissa (14:36):
just a

Chris (14:36):
fascinating company

Alissa (14:38):
and the way you talk about it, it really serves a

Chris (14:41):
really important purpose and makes the employees

Alissa (14:44):
within

Chris (14:45):
the

Alissa (14:45):
restaurant, it makes their lives better as well.
Would you give us a high

Chris (14:48):
level synopsis of.
Restaurant technologies.
Absolutely.
I would love to.
So

Alissa (14:55):
restaurant technologies is the

Chris (14:56):
perfect

Alissa (14:57):
harmony

Chris (14:58):
of

Alissa (14:58):
the food service industry.
And also

Chris (15:01):
what I love about Marvin, which is how things get made.

Alissa (15:04):
Hmm.

Chris (15:04):
So, yeah.

Alissa (15:05):
yeah.
Which is a fan fascinating thingat Marvin

Chris (15:07):
Marvin as well, but

Alissa (15:09):
Okay.
Restaurant technologies.
When when they called,

Chris (15:13):
I remember

Alissa (15:14):
like, who

Chris (15:14):
are you?

Alissa (15:15):
Like,

Chris (15:15):
what

Alissa (15:15):
do you

Chris (15:16):
do you do?

Alissa (15:17):
So it's not a

Chris (15:18):
well known company, but

Alissa (15:21):
their impact is big.
Yeah.
And so

Chris (15:24):
do is we change how restaurants cook with oil,

Alissa (15:30):
and we

Chris (15:31):
displace a

Alissa (15:33):
tough

Chris (15:33):
job in the

Alissa (15:34):
kitchen.
So

Chris (15:36):
we deliver bulk cooking oil.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (15:39):
Whatever type of oil that

Chris (15:41):
they use, we deliver on one of

Alissa (15:43):
our really cool.
Custom

Chris (15:45):
design trucks,

Alissa (15:47):
we deliver

Chris (15:48):
bulk cooking oil into

Alissa (15:50):
a

Chris (15:50):
large holding tank.
It flows into their fryerwithout them having to carry

Alissa (15:57):
big, big containers of

Chris (15:59):
oil around.

Alissa (16:00):
And then at the same time as they are

Chris (16:02):
done using the oil, it flows out of their fryer into a
used cooking oil tank.
And used cooking oil issomething that we pick up while
we're delivering fresh.

Alissa (16:13):
And we take that used cooking oil and sell

Chris (16:15):
it back to biodiesel, refineries, and they put it back
into the fuel chain.
So

Alissa (16:19):
that is fascinating.
It's fascinating.

Chris (16:21):
And that's our biggest product.
Yeah.
We also have a pretty cool flusprinkler system solution to
keep

Alissa (16:28):
Grease from building up in the flues.
But the

Chris (16:31):
big product that we have that most people recognize us
for is our.
Cooking

Alissa (16:35):
oil management solution.

Chris (16:36):
And that's something where the

Alissa (16:37):
truck comes up and literally adheres the holds to
the outside of the buildingbecause

Chris (16:42):
your machine is hooked up and then can do the recycling
piece that it does.
Yep.
So it's deliveringsimultaneously, delivering fresh
cooking oil.

Alissa (16:50):
oil.
Yeah, while it's picking up usedcooking oil.

Chris (16:52):
oil.

Alissa (16:53):
We fill'em

Chris (16:54):
up, we

Alissa (16:54):
take out their waste

Chris (16:55):
oil, and then we go to the next.
Stop.
That

Alissa (16:58):
is great.
And it displaces.
So you go back to the foodindustry.
That food industry

Chris (17:03):
or the restaurant industry is usually a pretty
common first stop

Alissa (17:08):
for people

Chris (17:08):
coming into a career.
Mm-hmm.
Might not be a forever careerfor them, but it's very common
as a first place of employment.
Yeah.
And so our solution,

Alissa (17:19):
I say it's one less headache for a restaurant here
to work with, but we

Chris (17:22):
make it easier.
It's a lot safer.

Alissa (17:26):
It reduces the slips, trips, and falls from spilled

Chris (17:29):
oil Mm-hmm.
and the burns of carrying hotoil.
But it makes it easier for themto

Alissa (17:34):
employ people

Chris (17:35):
in the restaurant without having the headache of managing
oil.
But it's a fun company to bepart of.
It's a

Alissa (17:41):
great sustainability story, and

Chris (17:44):
you have the unique ability now to look at a plate
of

Alissa (17:47):
french fries Totally.

Chris (17:48):
And be able

Alissa (17:49):
to

Chris (17:49):
say these guys need to

Alissa (17:50):
change their oil.
Or, oh, this

Chris (17:52):
is

Alissa (17:52):
relatively

Chris (17:53):
new

Alissa (17:53):
oil, right?
Yeah,

Chris (17:54):
yeah, absolutely.
We can go and say, I think theyneed to maybe filter their oil
or maybe.
Refill

Alissa (18:00):
their

Chris (18:01):
fryers with fresh and get rid of the waste.
But love that.

Alissa (18:03):
love.
It's pretty cool.
I think that is

Chris (18:05):
is pretty cool business.
I

Alissa (18:06):
I think that is

Chris (18:06):
so great.
So you've ascended to a rolethat a lot of individuals within
the human capital industryaspire to

Alissa (18:13):
that number

Chris (18:13):
one role within, A organization.
So I'm curious about Somethingthat you've developed along the
way is a lot of leaders at yourlevel will almost have a belief
or kind of a mantra

Alissa (18:25):
that

Chris (18:25):
they hold to be true

Alissa (18:27):
a

Chris (18:28):
around leadership and how you want to show up.
Do

Alissa (18:31):
you have some

Chris (18:32):
sort of mantra

Alissa (18:33):
as, as

Chris (18:33):
what it

Alissa (18:34):
means

Chris (18:34):
to be a leader, and then where do you think

Alissa (18:36):
you

Chris (18:36):
picked

Alissa (18:36):
that up from?

Chris (18:37):
I've

Alissa (18:37):
got a couple that kind of are guiding principles for
me.
Yeah.

Chris (18:40):
One main one just in leadership in general.
Is, I learned this from a dearfriend Chris Labine leaders have
to be able to provide two thingsregularly.

Alissa (18:52):
And a lot of

Chris (18:53):
times people say, well, they can't just do two

Alissa (18:55):
things.
They gotta do a lot.
It's like, yeah, generally, yes.
Yeah.
But

Chris (18:58):
two things that

Alissa (18:59):
I think

Chris (18:59):
are most important is

Alissa (19:01):
providing

Chris (19:02):
love and clarity.

Alissa (19:04):
And if you do that as a leader every

Chris (19:06):
day, You are gonna unlock things in the team that

Alissa (19:12):
people haven't been

Chris (19:12):
able to unlock before.
Now, love shows up in a

Alissa (19:16):
couple different ways, and I'm sure you're already
squirming in your seat becauselove, oh, this is right up the
hallway

Chris (19:20):
in.
Okay, good.
Yeah, this

Alissa (19:21):
is great.
So love in a

Chris (19:22):
corporate setting, people are like, no, we don't use that
word.

Alissa (19:25):
And I said, no, no, no,

Chris (19:26):
no, no, no.

Alissa (19:26):
I'm not talking about

Chris (19:27):
love,

Alissa (19:28):
love, love.
Like a passionate love.
You need passion.
But

Chris (19:31):
let me talk about love.
Love is I genuinely care aboutyou.

Alissa (19:36):
Similar

Chris (19:36):
to how I look

Alissa (19:37):
at my kids.
I want them to be successful.
I

Chris (19:39):
want

Alissa (19:39):
them to learn new skills.
I want them to feel like they'repart of a community or

Chris (19:44):
part of a team.
And I also love them enough totell them

Alissa (19:49):
that they're

Chris (19:49):
being

Alissa (19:50):
donks

Chris (19:51):
or that

Alissa (19:51):
they

Chris (19:51):
shouldn't do something, or that they're not quite doing

Alissa (19:55):
something as

Chris (19:55):
well as they could.
But if I didn't love you

Alissa (19:58):
Yeah.

Chris (19:58):
Enough to tell you that, that hey, maybe there's an
opportunity here.
That's part of my job as aleader.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (20:04):
Mm-hmm.
But

Chris (20:05):
to do it in a way that

Alissa (20:06):
you

Chris (20:06):
can do something with it.
Mm-hmm.
So if I go to my kid and say,you wanna ride a bike?
Good luck.
No, that's

Alissa (20:12):
not gonna fly that.

Chris (20:13):
You wouldn't do that in the work site.

Alissa (20:15):
Hey, you wanna learn a new skill?

Chris (20:16):
Good luck.
Love them enough to give themGood.
I want you

Alissa (20:20):
to be

Chris (20:20):
here, you're important to

Alissa (20:21):
this, you matter.

Chris (20:23):
And also, tough love.
Yeah.

Alissa (20:24):
Yeah.
Clarity.
Is, where are we going?
How do we get there?
How fast do we need to getthere?

Chris (20:32):
When can we take a pit stop?
When can we slow down?
What's our destination?
They need that.
People crave

Alissa (20:39):
that clarity right

Chris (20:40):
from their leader.
And I liken it to a GPS and acar.
And so

Alissa (20:46):
if

Chris (20:46):
you sit and say, what's this like?
Well, when you're in a long carride, let's say with kids.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (20:53):
And

Chris (20:53):
they don't know where you're going.
They ask you all

Alissa (20:57):
the time,

Chris (20:58):
are we there yet?
Yeah.
When are we gonna be there?
Can we stop?
How much longer?

Alissa (21:04):
And not only does your blood pressure rise in the car,
so does theirs.

Chris (21:08):
Anxiety is higher.

Alissa (21:10):
Well then, thank God

Chris (21:12):
we finally have a gps.
It's right in the middle of the

Alissa (21:15):
dash.
They

Chris (21:16):
can look around and say, we're gonna be there in 46
minutes and we're

Alissa (21:19):
gonna

Chris (21:20):
a left turn.

Alissa (21:21):
And then

Chris (21:21):
a right turn and we're gonna take exit

Alissa (21:23):
14.
And

Chris (21:24):
they know,

Alissa (21:25):
and all of a sudden

Chris (21:26):
everybody's on board.
They're more comfortable withit.
So it's a core belief.
If you do those two things wellall the time, a lot more things
are easy.
Oh wow.

Alissa (21:38):
That's really good.
Love and clarity.

Chris (21:39):
Love and clarity.
Mm-hmm.
That's good.
You mentioned passion earlier.
One of the things that you arepassionate about within your
human capital teams is

Alissa (21:49):
that each

Chris (21:50):
one of those individuals within

Alissa (21:51):
your team

Chris (21:52):
in HR knows how the business makes money.

Alissa (21:56):
Yes.
Can understand

Chris (21:58):
how their

Alissa (22:00):
particular role

Chris (22:01):
gets to both top line and bottom line.

Alissa (22:05):
And

Chris (22:05):
that is I, I would say that a lot of HR leaders do say
that.
I really feel that when I'mtalking to you.

Alissa (22:12):
Where

Chris (22:13):
in your career did you understand the

Alissa (22:15):
importance of recognizing that or who in your

Chris (22:18):
career helped you

Alissa (22:19):
recognize how important that was?

Chris (22:21):
This started when I was in Chicago.

Alissa (22:25):
I

Chris (22:25):
was out there

Alissa (22:26):
getting my MBA and I was

Chris (22:28):
getting a dual concentration,

Alissa (22:29):
so I was doing

Chris (22:30):
corporate finance

Alissa (22:31):
and

Chris (22:31):
human resource management.

Alissa (22:33):
And I

Chris (22:33):
remember the

Alissa (22:35):
student

Chris (22:35):
advisor,

Alissa (22:37):
I believe

Chris (22:37):
that was their role, was

Alissa (22:39):
like, Hey, are you, are you sure you wanna do

Chris (22:41):
corporate finance and human resource management?
Because like those two don't getalong.
And I remember, well, that'skind of the problem actually.

Alissa (22:49):
How could I

Chris (22:50):
do

Alissa (22:50):
my job?
Well,

Chris (22:51):
yeah.

Alissa (22:52):
If

Chris (22:53):
I don't understand how the company creates value.
Yeah.

Alissa (22:58):
Now,

Chris (22:58):
that was just an early, early on, and then shortly
during that period of time

Alissa (23:02):
of getting my MBA was working with a company

Chris (23:04):
called the Dells Group.
Dells Group was an executivecompensation

Alissa (23:07):
consulting firm.

Chris (23:08):
Really small boutique firm.
There

Alissa (23:10):
was

Chris (23:10):
only six of us,

Alissa (23:12):
and I would sit alongside a

Chris (23:14):
board.
I was young,

Alissa (23:15):
by the way, Chris, I

Chris (23:16):
was itty bitty In the board meetings.
I remember being

Alissa (23:20):
like, I, I actually remember

Chris (23:22):
thinking, I don't belong here.

Alissa (23:23):
I was young.
Generally mo, by the time, bythe way, the

Chris (23:27):
only female and probably

Alissa (23:29):
the only one under

Chris (23:30):
40 by a long shot.
Yeah.

Alissa (23:33):
And we would be working with a company on designing an

Chris (23:36):
incentive plan for their executive team or for their
senior management team andsometimes broad-based

Alissa (23:42):
compensation.

Chris (23:44):
And I had to learn quickly,

Alissa (23:47):
what

Chris (23:48):
does

Alissa (23:48):
the business need a team to work on?

Chris (23:51):
In order to drive value that they want.

Alissa (23:54):
Is

Chris (23:54):
it

Alissa (23:54):
shareholder

Chris (23:55):
value?

Alissa (23:56):
Is it a efficiency metric?

Chris (23:58):
So then you

Alissa (23:58):
start, you learn early on, if

Chris (24:00):
I can't do my job well, if I don't understand your
business model.

Alissa (24:04):
And I've taken that

Chris (24:04):
through

Alissa (24:05):
every area.
And sometimes I'll say, you'relike the least HR person.
HR person you

Chris (24:11):
driven.

Alissa (24:11):
Sure.
I'm

Chris (24:12):
like, well what does that mean?

Alissa (24:13):
It's like you, you just happen to

Chris (24:14):
do HR cuz you're trying to understand the business
first.
Yeah.
And so I've carried that with meeverywhere I've gone.
That's great.
And You ask your people for it

Alissa (24:25):
as well.
Absolutely.

Chris (24:26):
And I asked them, I said, Hey, how

Alissa (24:28):
could you support the business if you

Chris (24:30):
don't understand it?
So I'll liken it to

Alissa (24:33):
raising

Chris (24:34):
kids.
If you're trying to say, Hey, Iknow what you're gonna, what's

Alissa (24:39):
gonna be good for you.
If

Chris (24:41):
I don't know what's good for

Alissa (24:42):
my

Chris (24:42):
kids, I can't possibly point them

Alissa (24:44):
in the right direction.

Chris (24:44):
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (24:45):
And so I expect the team, I said, you have to
understand how this businessmakes money.
Spends money invests, moneyloses money.
Mm-hmm.

Chris (24:53):
How it works.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (24:54):
How it

Chris (24:55):
works in people, how

Alissa (24:56):
it works in technology and process.
Yeah.
But if you don't understand

Chris (24:59):
the business, you're gonna keep throwing solutions

Alissa (25:01):
up and you're

Chris (25:02):
gonna hope one of

Alissa (25:02):
em sticks

Chris (25:03):
and you're gonna miss Yeah.
For sure.
So beyond

Alissa (25:07):
that understanding of top line, bottom line

Chris (25:10):
for your team,

Alissa (25:11):
as you think about

Chris (25:12):
your building, your high performing team

Alissa (25:16):
what

Chris (25:16):
else do

Alissa (25:16):
you do within your

Chris (25:17):
team, whether it be a leadership philosophy

Alissa (25:20):
or

Chris (25:20):
what

Alissa (25:20):
you look

Chris (25:21):
for in individuals to join you?
What are some other componentsthat you hold dear?

Alissa (25:26):
So a kind of another

Chris (25:27):
guiding principle,

Alissa (25:28):
and

Chris (25:29):
I think we

Alissa (25:29):
might have

Chris (25:29):
talked about this, but.
It is really hard

Alissa (25:33):
to

Chris (25:33):
oversimplify something

Alissa (25:35):
and

Chris (25:35):
it's really easy to overcomplicate it.

Alissa (25:38):
Huh?
So when you're sitting heretrying to say, I am a support
function, I, HR

Chris (25:43):
does not exist for the sake of

Alissa (25:44):
hr.
HR

Chris (25:45):
exists

Alissa (25:46):
or

Chris (25:46):
human capital exists to support the business.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (25:48):
Mm-hmm.

Chris (25:49):
That when

Alissa (25:50):
you're saying they need

Chris (25:51):
simple solutions.

Alissa (25:54):
To support them

Chris (25:55):
because they're likely overloaded already.
And we're here to help.
And the they

Alissa (25:59):
is the other business.
Yeah.

Chris (26:00):
Like any part of the

Alissa (26:01):
business is likely

Chris (26:02):
they can't handle more

Alissa (26:04):
complications, especially coming out of a

Chris (26:07):
team that's historically, unfortunately, generally known
for it.
Mm-hmm.
So I say no, it's not simpleenough.
And my team says, let me

Alissa (26:15):
guess.
It's not simple enough.
Yep.
You're right.
and when you make it easy forsomebody,

Chris (26:19):
They will do it.
Mm-hmm.
In a deep seated

Alissa (26:23):
belief, or

Chris (26:24):
kind of a little bit of a watch out that I have with the
human capital function

Alissa (26:27):
in

Chris (26:27):
general

Alissa (26:28):
is

Chris (26:29):
we're not known for simplicity.
The HR

Alissa (26:33):
function isn't

Chris (26:34):
generally known for it, right?
They're known for compliance.
Heavy, maybe heavy handednesssometimes.
Not all.
Not all, but, but there is somedeep seated feelings about our
function.

Alissa (26:46):
And so

Chris (26:47):
I always say, how do we break that apart and make it
easy?

Alissa (26:50):
And what

Chris (26:50):
I found is

Alissa (26:51):
people say

Chris (26:52):
people are, they don't like change.
Okay?
They don't like change becauseit's usually

Alissa (26:57):
hard.
If

Chris (26:58):
it's harder than they've learned to not like change.

Alissa (27:01):
But if they, you've made it

Chris (27:02):
easier for them.
They're love and

Alissa (27:05):
change.
Yeah.
You made this easier

Chris (27:07):
for me, right?

Alissa (27:08):
right?

Chris (27:08):
Our business model makes it easier for restaurants to do
something.

Alissa (27:11):
Now, if we made it

Chris (27:12):
harder for them, they're gonna say

Alissa (27:13):
No thanks.

Chris (27:14):
I don't wanna buy that from

Alissa (27:15):
you.
Mm-hmm.
But if you make it

Chris (27:17):
easier for them, they're like, thank God.
Could you imagine

Alissa (27:20):
if the cellphone made it harder on your life, would we
all carry it around away?
Probably not.
So One of

Chris (27:26):
the questions that we ask is, is

Alissa (27:27):
there

Chris (27:27):
a commonly

Alissa (27:28):
held belief

Chris (27:28):
about your role or the industry that you passionately
disagree with?

Alissa (27:32):
And it probably will

Chris (27:34):
be exactly what you said

Alissa (27:35):
is we exist

Chris (27:36):
for the support of the business, but.
Make it easier.
Make it easier,

Alissa (27:40):
yeah.

Chris (27:40):
Make it easier for the organization

Alissa (27:42):
to

Chris (27:42):
find talent.

Alissa (27:43):
Develop them, retain

Chris (27:45):
them, make it easier, like it's

Alissa (27:48):
actually

Chris (27:49):
okay.
And the human capital

Alissa (27:50):
function to say,

Chris (27:50):
Hey, the business process might need work.
Yep.
The business process is Grindingpeople's gears.
And we don't have an allegianceto sales.
We

Alissa (27:59):
don't have an allegiance to it.
We don't have an allegiance tofinance.

Chris (28:04):
We are in a

Alissa (28:05):
great state to say, Hey, I don't,

Chris (28:07):
I'm

Alissa (28:07):
Switzerland on some of this.

Chris (28:08):
I just

Alissa (28:09):
want to make it as

Chris (28:10):
easy as possible

Alissa (28:11):
for us to use

Chris (28:12):
human capital to win.
Yeah.

Alissa (28:14):
And because you're not pre designed like a

Chris (28:17):
computer system

Alissa (28:18):
or a piece of equipment,

Chris (28:19):
we have the most flexibility with talent to do
something different.
Hmm.
I can get

Alissa (28:24):
you to change tomorrow.

Chris (28:25):
I don't have

Alissa (28:25):
to.

Chris (28:26):
I don't have to

Alissa (28:26):
wait until you're pre-programmed

Chris (28:28):
or programmed differently.
I get to have you

Alissa (28:29):
do

Chris (28:29):
something different tomorrow that is

Alissa (28:32):
cool

Chris (28:32):
about people because we

Alissa (28:34):
can get

Chris (28:34):
somebody to do something different tomorrow.
Yeah, yeah.
From a behaviors and instant

Alissa (28:39):
gratification standpoint, Evan,

Chris (28:40):
and you wanna, you wanna make it as easy as possible for
people to.

Alissa (28:44):
Be part of your business.
Keep

Chris (28:45):
it simple.
Keep it simple.
That's good.
So thinking about

Alissa (28:48):
what

Chris (28:48):
you're going through within your

Alissa (28:50):
company right now, some

Chris (28:51):
of the initiatives that you have I love this question.

Alissa (28:54):
If

Chris (28:54):
you had 10 times the budget

Alissa (28:56):
that you

Chris (28:56):
have right now, where would you spend it?

Alissa (29:00):
Talent enablement.

Chris (29:01):
Talk more about that.

Alissa (29:02):
Talent enablement is the combination of like, there is
true technical skills

Chris (29:07):
that are needed.
And then there's development.
It's the softer side of things.

Alissa (29:11):
Yep.

Chris (29:12):
That's where in a high growth organization we brought

Alissa (29:15):
a ton of people in and

Chris (29:18):
now we have a lot of building out to do in That's
part

Alissa (29:22):
of the business.
Yeah.
Giving people, tools,

Chris (29:24):
resources,

Alissa (29:25):
a process to

Chris (29:26):
to continue

Alissa (29:27):
to

Chris (29:27):
grow.
I would pour as much as I couldas fast as I could into that

Alissa (29:31):
side of

Chris (29:31):
the

Alissa (29:31):
business.
Yeah.
That's interesting to hear yousay that.

Chris (29:34):
In.

Alissa (29:35):
Times when business is usually in

Chris (29:37):
a downward trend similar to what the

Alissa (29:39):
economy is going through right now

Chris (29:40):
for most companies.
Sure.

Alissa (29:41):
I'll say

Chris (29:42):
traditionally my

Alissa (29:44):
experience has been the first.

Chris (29:46):
Human capital divisions to get

Alissa (29:47):
hit are talent acquisition.
We're not

Chris (29:49):
gonna hire, so don't need talent acquisition.
And then the next is learningand development or training.
Yeah.
And I, that's always baffled methat

Alissa (29:57):
training and

Chris (29:58):
learning development will get sacked because in, in down

Alissa (30:02):
times, if you're looking to engage your individuals

Chris (30:05):
from a employment brand perspective, what better

Alissa (30:09):
tool than to lift them up?

Chris (30:11):
And help

Alissa (30:12):
grow

Chris (30:12):
within

Alissa (30:12):
organization that's gonna

Chris (30:14):
help with their retention, that's

Alissa (30:15):
gonna help with, if you do have to let individuals go
more cross-training and thingslike that I

Chris (30:19):
think that's something that's going to be

Alissa (30:21):
pretty common and

Chris (30:22):
pretty at a big

Alissa (30:24):
hr trend in heading into

Chris (30:26):
2024.
Yeah, I, I hope so, at least.
No,

Alissa (30:29):
I agree.
And, and it's also because with

Chris (30:32):
automation, like part

Alissa (30:33):
our job as leaders is to find.
Places

Chris (30:36):
for people to

Alissa (30:37):
move horizontally through the business.
Mm-hmm.

Chris (30:39):
And again, if you help simplify

Alissa (30:41):
how we work, it makes it easier for

Chris (30:45):
people to

Alissa (30:45):
move throughout the business.
So.
Mm-hmm.
Even if I

Chris (30:49):
had, if I could say I wish there was a way for me to
get more people, I say

Alissa (30:54):
Best vote of confidence that we're doing something
right, is if somebody left thehuman capital team and went into
the business.
And vice versa.
We benefit greatly when peoplecome out of

Chris (31:03):
the business and join

Alissa (31:04):
the human capital team.

Chris (31:06):
But

Alissa (31:06):
if you make it easy and you have intentionality behind
horizontal

Chris (31:09):
development of people, like

Alissa (31:11):
as much as I want

Chris (31:11):
people to want

Alissa (31:12):
my

Chris (31:12):
job,

Alissa (31:14):
great,

Chris (31:15):
but the number of opportunities of moving up is

Alissa (31:18):
so fewer than moving throughout.
Mm-hmm.

Chris (31:20):
And

Alissa (31:21):
so I think it's something that we don't have to
wrestle with is

Chris (31:23):
what can that

Alissa (31:24):
look like?

Chris (31:25):
We're not doing it

Alissa (31:25):
great at rt.
We're,

Chris (31:27):
I would say if

Alissa (31:28):
we did, I would probably say I don't need the big
investment, but since you'regiving me

Chris (31:32):
10 times my budget, I will let Jeff Keel know that.

Alissa (31:35):
We just have a lot of work to do there and

Chris (31:37):
To do it.
Like I wanna go back

Alissa (31:38):
to it simply.
Yeah.

Chris (31:39):
Yeah.
Because

Alissa (31:41):
It's not the principles of development do not have to be
complicated.
And we

Chris (31:46):
tend to overdo it.
That's another thing

Alissa (31:47):
that I've learned

Chris (31:48):
is, yeah,

Alissa (31:49):
as soon as we say, Hey, we're gonna develop a build out,
a leadership developmentplatform, it's like, oh, well
include this and include

Chris (31:54):
this, and include this

Alissa (31:55):
and include this, and well, what happens?
You

Chris (31:57):
never get the bird

Alissa (31:57):
off the ground.
Mm-hmm.
It's like, no, no, no.
We're gonna start simple.
We're gonna bring something tolife.

Chris (32:03):
We're

Alissa (32:03):
gonna see how it goes.

Chris (32:04):
We're

Alissa (32:04):
gonna listen to the

Chris (32:05):
business and

Alissa (32:06):
we're gonna bring it to life as soon as they're ready.
That's

Chris (32:08):
great.
One of,

Alissa (32:09):
yeah.
One of my favorite sayings.
When you're e ever taking

Chris (32:12):
on something

Alissa (32:12):
new within your team, and

Chris (32:14):
it can be anything is dream big,

Alissa (32:17):
And dream about what it could do for

Chris (32:18):
the organization,

Alissa (32:19):
but start small and scale quickly.
Yeah.
Once it's working.
Yeah.

Chris (32:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
So we're getting

Alissa (32:25):
close to the end.

Chris (32:26):
We've talked about you growing up.
We've talked about your, yourtravels.
We've talked about Alyssa Parsitting in a

Alissa (32:32):
boardroom meeting saying, oh my God, I,

Chris (32:34):
I don't, I

Alissa (32:35):
don't think I should be here.
But when you think abouteverything that you've
accomplished in your career, wehave a belief that you never do
it alone.
There's always individuals whowill give you advice or take a
chance on

Chris (32:47):
you.
When you think about

Alissa (32:49):
Where you are today, what has made that

Chris (32:52):
possible, who

Alissa (32:54):
within your

Chris (32:54):
career,

Alissa (32:55):
Has allowed you to be here.

Chris (32:58):
There is

Alissa (32:58):
so many, it's

Chris (33:00):
kind of crisp you had to stand on the podium and say, I'm
here to thank

Alissa (33:04):
so-and-so.
Like,

Chris (33:04):
where

Alissa (33:05):
would you begin?
Right.
So it's long.
Yeah.
I have to start with my

Chris (33:09):
parents.

Alissa (33:10):
If they didn't have a high but realistic expectation

Chris (33:14):
of.

Alissa (33:15):
Me, I wouldn't be pushed to try to do something great.

Chris (33:18):
And it actually is

Alissa (33:19):
instilled as a sense of helping.

Chris (33:22):
Hmm.

Alissa (33:23):
Go to a place where you can help.

Chris (33:25):
Yeah.
And cont

Alissa (33:26):
and help by helping you or contributing.
And so

Chris (33:29):
that's been instilled

Alissa (33:30):
in me very, very young.
And I gotta thank them for thatbecause that's

Chris (33:34):
not, you say maybe it's as easy

Alissa (33:36):
to learn, but I do attribute that to my parents.

Chris (33:38):
And you st you said your dad before, even

Alissa (33:41):
before he owned his business with the ATVs,

Chris (33:43):
and was he,

Alissa (33:44):
he, you said he was a minor?
Yeah.
My p

Chris (33:46):
parents both

Alissa (33:47):
met at Inland Steel Mine.
Wow.

Chris (33:49):
In Virginia.
Hardworking,

Alissa (33:51):
tough environment.
Yeah.

Chris (33:53):
And yeah, so they, they,

Alissa (33:53):
hard work is probably

Chris (33:55):
in, in my bonds, but

Alissa (33:57):
go someplace where you can help.
Another thing is, is there

Chris (34:00):
has been

Alissa (34:00):
people who've taken a chance on

Chris (34:02):
me.
They've said, Hey,

Alissa (34:03):
I think she can do it.
And not just like, Hey, I'vealways said throwing

Chris (34:10):
somebody in the deep end

Alissa (34:11):
and hoping they

Chris (34:11):
learn how to swim

Alissa (34:12):
is not a development strategy.
Okay?

Chris (34:14):
It's

Alissa (34:15):
don't ever adopt that as your, as your formal plan of
development, but sometimes, Itis throwing them in the bigger
pool, but supporting them

Chris (34:24):
to swim.
Mm-hmm.
You can't

Alissa (34:25):
just toss'em in and walk away.

Chris (34:27):
Mm-hmm.
And there's people who've done

Alissa (34:28):
that for me.
They've said, Hey, I think shecan do it.
And even in some really toughchanges,

Chris (34:34):
I

Alissa (34:34):
went, we went through at Caribou, the chance came up to

Chris (34:36):
say, Hey Alyssa,

Alissa (34:37):
you're gonna

Chris (34:37):
run the HR team.

Alissa (34:38):
It's after one of

Chris (34:39):
my closest friends

Alissa (34:40):
and colleagues

Chris (34:41):
left Caribou.
Hmm.

Alissa (34:42):
Mm.
And I'm still, I still go to herfor mentorship.

Chris (34:46):
And

Alissa (34:46):
if I didn't have Anne's sample in my life, I probably
wouldn't have had a chance tochange.

Chris (34:52):
Yeah.

Alissa (34:53):
That's great.
So,

Chris (34:54):
huh.

Alissa (34:55):
So we get to

Chris (34:55):
that

Alissa (34:56):
last question So, you know,

Chris (34:57):
we, we,

Alissa (34:58):
we teased a little

Chris (34:59):
bit that

Alissa (35:00):
yes, you have jumped outta airplanes since you are
clearly an adrenaline

Chris (35:03):
junkie.

Alissa (35:04):
But when you're not jumping out of airplanes is
there something that really kindof gets your

Chris (35:09):
adrenaline going that you enjoy either on the work side or

Alissa (35:13):
family side of your

Chris (35:14):
life?

Alissa (35:15):
I actually have a pretty, Big fear of failure.
Hmm.
And I don't know.
That's not a great

Chris (35:22):
way to drive you.
But it's

Alissa (35:24):
like, I don't wanna let people down.

Chris (35:26):
Hmm.

Alissa (35:27):
And goes back to wanting to

Chris (35:30):
help and contribute.
And I've actually

Alissa (35:31):
said, Hey, if

Chris (35:32):
I'm done helping here, I gotta go.
I,

Alissa (35:34):
I, I'll leave.
It's okay.
I gotta go.
But I don't wanna

Chris (35:37):
let people down.
So

Alissa (35:39):
I will try to figure it out.
Yeah.
I'll stay up late.
There'll be

Chris (35:41):
late nights

Alissa (35:42):
and early mornings to not let somebody down.
And that's what

Chris (35:45):
drives you.
I, it's,

Alissa (35:47):
is a big part

Chris (35:48):
of it.
I, cuz I,

Alissa (35:50):
Don't have anything else that I could really attribute

Chris (35:52):
it

Alissa (35:52):
to.
Yeah.
Like nobody's,

Chris (35:55):
It goes

Alissa (35:55):
back, if I can't help, I, I shouldn't be here.
Yeah.
What I want is I

Chris (36:01):
want

Alissa (36:02):
somebody to be able to say like, 20 years from now, I
was able to do something

Chris (36:07):
better for my

Alissa (36:07):
family or my community because of the environment that
I was placed in and supported

Chris (36:12):
in.
And

Alissa (36:14):
so whatever I can do

Chris (36:16):
to contribute

Alissa (36:17):
to somebody else's.
Success or ability to give backor do something that they hadn't
been able to do.
If they

Chris (36:24):
didn't match up to

Alissa (36:26):
a path

Chris (36:26):
that I'm hoping to lay down for

Alissa (36:29):
people,

Chris (36:30):
then I don't think I've

Alissa (36:32):
served anybody well.
So I think

Chris (36:36):
that, and that

Alissa (36:37):
goes, I guess back to, I don't

Chris (36:39):
let people

Alissa (36:39):
I wanna

Chris (36:40):
for people to look back and say,

Alissa (36:42):
I can do something different with my life because
of.

Chris (36:44):
Rt.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (36:45):
Or Buffalo Wildings or Marvin.
I'm healthier because ofsomething they put into place.

Chris (36:52):
I like

Alissa (36:52):
my job more because of something they put into place.
That's, that's when, you know,that's, that's

Chris (36:58):
what,

Alissa (36:58):
that's impact.
That's what

Chris (36:59):
keeps me up.
That's what

Alissa (37:00):
gets me up in the morning.
Yeah.

Chris (37:03):
And it goes back to

Alissa (37:04):
like removing, I call it removing pins outta somebody's
pin

Chris (37:07):
cushion.

Alissa (37:08):
Make it easier for them to be

Chris (37:09):
successful, make

Alissa (37:10):
it easier for them to go after what they

Chris (37:12):
want in life.
So when they

Alissa (37:13):
go home

Chris (37:13):
and they

Alissa (37:14):
punch the clock at

Chris (37:15):
night,

Alissa (37:16):
they're gonna go back and make a huge difference in
their kids'

Chris (37:18):
lives or their

Alissa (37:19):
spouses or partner's life or their community or any
circle that they wanna be partof.
Be part of con contributing

Chris (37:27):
to that

Alissa (37:28):
and do whatever you can to contribute to that.
That's really good.
Our

Chris (37:31):
wrap up question is,

Alissa (37:33):
What are you looking forward to either professionally
or personally that's coming upfor you?
You know, I'm gonna go, I'mgonna go professionally for a

Chris (37:40):
minute.
Mm-hmm.

Alissa (37:41):
Because I do

Chris (37:42):
I

Alissa (37:42):
such a

Chris (37:43):
unicorn

Alissa (37:44):
business.
We have only touched 10% of foodservice places in the United
States.
That's insane.
So we could grow nine times oursize today and just meet the
addressable market today and.
Again, it kind of ties a

Chris (38:02):
lot together.
If

Alissa (38:03):
we have continued growth at rt, we get to have more great
jobs for

Chris (38:11):
people in the us.
Mm-hmm.
And

Alissa (38:14):
we need great paying jobs in the

Chris (38:17):
country.
Yeah.
And opportunities.
Again,

Alissa (38:20):
you can come into rt,

Chris (38:22):
you don't have

Alissa (38:23):
to have this dreamy resume.
You don't have to have

Chris (38:27):
much work experience

Alissa (38:28):
at all.
So I know it's a place wherealmost anybody can be
successful, but It's hard to getmy head wrapped around the sheer
opportunity of growth that wehave.
Hmm.
And I'm really

Chris (38:40):
looking forward

Alissa (38:40):
to being

Chris (38:41):
part of that.
That's great.

Alissa (38:42):
So if you Yeah.
If you're

Chris (38:43):
in the restaurant industry or restaurant owner and
are looking for

Alissa (38:45):
a simple solution to solve, change this.
Yeah.
Look up restaurant technologiesfor sure.
Well, Alyssa, thank you.
For joining

Chris (38:53):
us today.
This has been a lot of fun.
Thanks.
me.
And sharing your

Alissa (38:56):
story.
And thanks to everyonelistening.
We thank you for hitting thatsubscribe button as well as if
you could take a moment

Chris (39:04):
to give us a five

Alissa (39:05):
star rating and even write a review for us on Apple

Chris (39:09):
Podcasts,

Alissa (39:10):
it really does help the

Chris (39:11):
podcast.
I'll also tune

Alissa (39:12):
in next month

Chris (39:13):
to hear

Alissa (39:13):
great stories from more influential

Chris (39:15):
leaders and please

Alissa (39:17):
remember, That the Road to success has many twists and

Chris (39:20):
turns and is paved by people you

Alissa (39:22):
encounter along the way.
Regardless of what you aretrying to accomplish in your
company or in your career,remember that it's people who
make it possible.