Taco Bell CEO Explains Recipe for Success: ‘Don’t Try to Be a Black Belt for Everything’

Tresvant, the food chain’s first black CEO, held executive positions at Nike and Sports Illustrated. He became CEO of Taco Bell in January, after just three years at Yum! Brand chain.

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“When I moved from chief brand officer to CEO, I got some good advice: Don’t try to be a black belt in everything,” Tresvant said on a LinkedIn podcast “This Is Working With Daniel Roth.

As a first-time CEO with a background primarily in marketing, that was the “biggest surprise” in his transition to management, he said.

“Be a black belt in marketing and a brown belt in everything else,” he added.

He emphasizes the importance of first admitting that you don’t know everything, then reaching out to those who do. Afterwards, it’s about “asking the right questions” and doing everything possible to “be able to support your team”.

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Taking an example: “I understand I’m not a CFO, but I have a great CFO who can run the company,” he said.

Tresvant said teams typically suffer when leaders “try to be all things to all people and try to be a little too micro and don’t empower their teams to lead.”

He is not the only one to have this point of view. A report from Fortune states that Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford and Exelon CEO Calvin Butler both echoed similar views.

Another reason this approach works better in the long run is that micromanagement usually tends to backfire, lowering employee morale, leaving them feeling helpless, while wasting the manager’s time and energy. , according to psychologist Mark. Cross in Forbes.

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