Jeff’s guest is Xavier Naville, Author of “The Lettuce Diaries: How A Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables in China.” He is the Principal at Vision Management Consultants, but was formerly the CEO of the Creative Food Group, a key supplier to major restaurant chains in China, like McDonald's, KFC, and Starbucks. Xavier grew the company to one that now has nine factories serving 6,500 restaurants a day and over $150MM in revenue.

Jeff and Xavier discuss how his business experiences in China were vastly different than what is typical in most western companies. They talk about which leadership principles are universal, regardless of the country or industry. Xavier shares his personal stories about managing a Chinese team as a foreigner, trying to work with Chinese farmers to improve how they conducted agriculture, all while navigating investor demands. He and Jeff discuss the five ingredients that make up the “Complete Leader.”

Xavier shares vulnerably from his leadership journey, which included some nail-biting experiences of being an ex-patriot in China, almost failing at his business, and his eventual successful exit.