WOMEN AT
24
THE TOP
Kat Cole
CEO, Cinnabon
to the voice in your head that doubts
whether or not you deserve to be in a
certain role or whether or not you are
good enough. Teach and give to others.
Know how you are perceived and the
effect you have on others. Remember
that everything… in every situation…
is about them and the effect you have
on them (whoever “them” is). If that
doesn’t match the effect you desire, work
on it. Keep learning from everyone and
everything around you: life is a powerful education if you pay attention, and
benefits your world if you are humble
enough to be introspective and smart
enough to apply lessons you learn.
How has your life experience made
you the leader you are today? Hav-
ing a strong single mother as a parent
taught me confidence, grace, trust, and
resilience. Traveling all over the world
for business shaped my skills in flexibility, influence, and compassion. Ongoing education, as well as non-profit
and industry volunteer work, taught me
about lifelong learning, benchmarking,
and building meaningful relationships
across functions and industries.
Role models? My mom, Nelson Man-
dela, Mother Teresa, Warren Buffet.
Management gurus or books that
have deeply affected you: The
Leadership style: Relatable, empow-
classics by Covey, Bossidy, Collins, and
Lencioni, as well as Conscious Capitalism
by John Mackey, The Social Animal by
David Brooks, and Lessons from Warren Buffett.
Has mentorship made a difference
in your professional and personal
life? Of course. I’ve benefited from
many mentoring moments in my life
where others took the time to share
perspective, give me candid feedback,
and be a sounding board. A few specific
individuals have been there for me for
many years as informal mentors, but the
cumulative mentoring moments from
my employees, peers, bosses, friends,
and connections have been invaluable.
Female leaders you admire: My
mom, Justice Sotomayor, Fritzi Woods,
Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Marissa Meyer, Melanie Hobson. They are
strong, resilient, driven, not afraid to
be who they are in any setting, and all
took very different paths to their own
version of success.
Advice for young female CEO
aspirants: Be so curious, competent,
committed, and helpful that people can’t
help but want to be on your team. Bring
your whole self to work. Don’t listen
ering, results-focused, giving, coaching,
open, positive, change- and risk-oriented.
Was becoming CEO of an organization part of your professional
plan? No, not for most of my profesSYSTEM REVENUE: Do not disclose
NO. OF UNITS: 1,100
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE: Private
GROWTH PLANS: Continue multi-channel
expansion—we just hit $1 billion in global
product sales from 60,000 points