Kat Cole, now the COO and president of North America for Focus Brands, was first made president of Cinnabon at 31 years old — and at the height of the 2007 recession.
"We literally had no humans to sell to," Cole said during her keynote at Workhuman 2019. It would be a difficult time to lead and innovate for anyone, especially for someone whose company was mostly located in malls and airports during a time when few people were visiting either. When banks won't lend and customers aren't coming in, "the only thing left is to connect with humanity," Cole said.
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