Jeff Yapp Of Chalice Brands: 5 Things You Should Do To Become a Thought Leader In Your Industry
An Interview With Abe Alon
Build a solid team. Recognize the talents you need and build that up with support. This is where you’ll find the most success. Thoughts are great but by yourself, you’re limited. Thought leaders excel in building teams that are completely focused and dedicated.
As part of our series about how to become known as a thought leader in your industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Yapp.
Jeff Yapp, chief executive officer of Chalice Brands Ltd., has amassed an impressive body of experience through decades of leading strategies for global corporations including Viacom, Fox and Microsoft. His multi-faceted expertise across a variety of industries is unmatched, bringing thoughtful and comprehensive leadership to Chalice Brands, one of the top cannabis companies in the Pacific Northwest with production, processing, wholesale, distribution and retail operations in Oregon and California.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
Over the past three decades I’ve worked at a variety of Fortune 500 companies, which includes leadership roles at Viacom MTV, PepsiCo, NewsCorp, Twentieth Century Fox, Cablevision, Microsoft and Kraft Foods. My efforts were fundamental in launching a variety of successful products and brands, including Vice Media, Guitar Hero and Rock Band, as well as the re-launch of “Star Wars,” “Independence Day” and “Crazy Heart.”
Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority about the topic of thought leadership?
When I joined Chalice Brands in 2018, the company had been through multiple leadership changes and squashed acquisition deals and since then, I’ve built a team of passionate and dedicated executives to implement our new strategy, which focuses on cannabis as the next generation of plant-based medicine. Now, Chalice Brands is one of Oregon’s top vertically-integrated cannabis operators; we have 16 dispensary locations across the state, including Chalice Farms, Homegrown Oregon, Cannabliss & Co. and Left Coast Connection.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My most interesting story is going to Skywalker Ranch and being led into the Stag Theater to meet with George Lucas. I was trying to convince him to relaunch the Star Wars franchise, but Lucas said he had absolutely no interest, he was more focused on shifting into gaming. I elected to invest my own money and told Lucas that I’d do it on my own. With that, he turned right around to hop on board, and we relaunched the franchise — the rest is history.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define what a ‘Thought Leader’ is? How is a thought leader different from a typical leader? How is a thought leader different from an influencer?
I tend to think of thought leaders and innovators being part of the same space. Thought leaders see things before others and get ahead. Most of my career has been spent at the ugly tip of innovation for larger companies. The ability to see something first, help others to understand and of course, the ability to actually execute the idea is what defines a thought leader. These are completely separate ideas — thought leaders must be able to execute each of these well.
Thought leaders go against the stream and exhibit courage, as opposed to a business leader, who are more conservative and want to stay within a box. Entrepreneurs tend to be more like thought leaders as they take risks to propel new ideas, while business leaders like to play it safe, avoiding as much risk as possible.
Influencers are more like followers — they tend to go with the stream. Influencers understand trends and markets, trying to stay slightly ahead while being on the latest trend and milking that for as long as popularity remains. People who follow trends may be innovators, but they certainly aren’t thought leaders.
Can you talk to our readers a bit about the benefits of becoming a thought leader? Why do you think it is worthwhile to invest resources and energy into this?
Becoming a thought leader will propel personal success and success in your industry. If you look at some of the biggest breakthroughs in business, technology and cannabis, the greatest opportunities and successes come from those who have ideas, act on them and successfully implement them. The ability to execute is key. Take subscription video rentals, for example; Hastings Entertainment had the ability to execute the video rentals idea, outlasting companies like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster Video, and today, it’s grown into businesses like Netflix. Another example would be Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — he had the unique and new idea to create a platform for selling books. Bill Gates is also a prime example, with his idea to have PCs at every desk. Thought leaders are where major breakthroughs happen and the benefit is in returns, but it’s highly risky. There are lots of people with lots of thoughts out there, but when risks are taken and execution of ideas are successful, that’s when we see innovation. High risk equals high reward!
Let’s talk about business opportunities specifically. Can you share a few examples of how thought leadership can help a business grow or create lucrative opportunities?
Being a thought leader lends great success in marketing and the development of products. When I was working at MTV, I mostly dealt with gaming and first-person shooter games, which are relatively violent. I came across the idea of music games, a category that, by all definitions, shouldn’t have happened. Even though most rejected this idea and thought it would be foolish to put money toward accessories, I ran with it because I saw something others didn’t. Within three years, we launched Guitar Hero and Rock Band, creating a multibillion-dollar business. The ability to recognize, align and execute creates tremendous value for organizations and individuals.
In the cannabis space, the thing that will lead cannabis to much broader acceptance is the concept of health and wellness through plant-based medicine and altering ideas on pharmaceutical options. This is how the industry will find more success, which can be achieved through education and awareness of cannabis, its effects, and the many products available in the market.
The internet is another great example that should be recognized — no one thought to use it as a streaming platform before Vice Media’s great thought leaders, Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, and our society has completely changed as a result.
Ok. Now that we have that behind us, we’d love to hear your thoughts about how to eventually become a thought leader. Can you share 5 strategies that a person should implement to become known as a thought leader in their industry? Please tell us a story or example (ideally from your own experience) for each.
- Curiosity. You have to always be looking and curious in your industry; look for people who are doing things differently.
When I worked for Kraft Foods, they told me to discontinue Country Time Lemonade. I looked around and saw that it was still big in the South and decided to dive deeper into the demographic to see if a change could be warranted to keep Country Time Lemonade around. In doing so, I found a new way to market the product, through a regional sport that no one above the Mason-Dixon line had the slightest knowledge of at the time — NASCAR. This idea was not well received, and I had to bet my job on it when presenting the idea to the CEO of the company. I took that bet, got into sponsorship, took the cars to local places to show off the Country Time Lemonade logo and the business exploded! This was a result of me paying attention to the current demographic, crossed with that group’s interests.
2. Synthesize. The ability to synthesize what is currently being done differently and transforming those into new ideas, is crucial.
3. Communication. The ability to communicate ideas clearly, especially to those who disagree or don’t share the perspective will go a long way. Aligning resources is an art, takes a lot of work and most don’t think it will happen. You need to have confidence in presenting your ideas, which is a difficulty for entrepreneurs and thought leaders alike. You’ve got to attract the resources necessary to have a successful execution of the idea and plan.
Especially in larger organizations, people get caught up in the day-to-day and have a hard time seeing changes in demographics and consumer interests. When I worked for Viacom, I encountered a lot of push back on my ideas. Once I figured out how to position my ideas correctly to the chairman, I was entrusted to implement my ideas. I’ve had a long, hard road of aligning resources and through this process, I’ve learned how to take “no” and keep pitching until something sticks. There was a time that I’d been told “no” about 17 times before it finally clicked. I always trust my gut and intuition, regardless of the assumed risks.
4. Discipline. Stick with your execution plan. It’s one thing to have an idea, another to get funded and a completely separate necessity to have the discipline to successfully execute.
Like so many others in the cannabis space, Chalice Brands raised a lot of money at the beginning but had nothing to show for it a year and a half later. From a financial discipline perspective, you’ve got to crawl, walk and then you can run. First, you need to validate the revenue model and ask yourself if it’s something people want. Then you invest to accelerate revenue growth and then again for margin growth. You also need to develop a risk profile, which gives a much more predictable trajectory of the business.
5. Build a solid team. Recognize the talents you need and build that up with support. This is where you’ll find the most success. Thoughts are great but by yourself, you’re limited. Thought leaders excel in building teams that are completely focused and dedicated.
The success that we’ve had at Chalice Brands has been driven by the team. With our group of like-minded people, we aim to balance the art and respect of the plant with the science of running a profitable business.
In your opinion, who is an example of someone who has done a fantastic job as a thought leader? Which specific things have impressed you about that person? What lessons can we learn from this person’s approach?
Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft. He understood the power potential of cloud computing earlier than anyone else, leads a large organization well and sticks to his values — even when it’s tough. Nadella is one of the most valued leaders we have today, and the market recognizes his value. His clarity, vision and consistency are what I find to be most impressive. Nadella has a clearly defined vision, first and foremost, which he’s uniformly communicated to a very large corporation. This also works for small companies. When you determine where you are, what your mission is and where you’re going to be, getting your business to believe, align and execute those can be incredibly challenging. Many go through these exercises, but don’t spend the time to align the whole company, which is a huge mistake. Aligning an entire organization creates a framework for making decisions and Nadella’s is highly diversified, but simple — there’s no ambiguity.
I have seen some discussion that the term “thought leader” is trite, overused, and should be avoided. What is your feeling about this?
It’s all in application — there are very few TRUE thought leaders, and the true ones are those that make significant differences. Take TOMS shoes for example. They donate a pair of shoes with every purchase and must have thought, “how could I link the success to my business to the betterment of the world?” That model now exists all over.
What advice would you give to other leaders to thrive and avoid burnout?
Try to do what you love. If you don’t, find something else! I go hard A LOT, but I have an amazing family; seven kids and two grandkids. Nothing is more important to me than their health, happiness and getting to be a part of their lives. It’s all about balance.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I am very troubled by the division that we see in our country today. Back in the 1960s, we had a massive cultural shift, which drove a lot of positive change. We’d like to take that model and apply it to today. Listen, understand and be respectful of one another — that’s what we need. It’s all or nothing now, and it’s tearing our country apart. Listening and respecting each other must happen — that’s what I would change.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Something that has and will resonate with me for the rest of my life is one simple question, asked by my grandmother: “Are you happy?” This question changed my perspective on everything and has led me to become a much bigger optimist, glass half full kind of guy. Life for me now is so much less about the problems. You can’t worry about what others think, it matters what YOU think. This question guides my life and has presented me with countless opportunities.
We are blessed that very prominent leaders in business and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world with whom you would like to have lunch or breakfast? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
There are a lot of prominent leaders in business that I’d enjoy having a meal with, and don’t know that I could pick just one. If I could choose someone throughout history, however, I would be interested in having a meal with Martin Luther King Jr. — I’ve always been taken by his quote, “Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.” He showed immense courage and stuck to his beliefs but was still a welcoming and respectful person.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Website: chalicebrandsltd.com
Facebook: facebook.com/chalicefarm
Instagram: instagram.com/chaliceoregon
Twitter: twitter.com/ChaliceBrands
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/chalice-brands-ltd
Thank you so much for your insights. This was very insightful and meaningful.
These were the most thoughtful questions I’ve ever experienced in an interview — thank you so much for having me!
