David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Today's guest has been yawn Francoise, the founder and CEO of the cupcake collection, a destination bakery with locations in Nashville and New Orleans. Now get this Mignon started her business with nothing but a $5. Bill, she turned that five bucks into 60. With her first order, those $60 became 600. And now she sold over 5 billion cupcakes and was awarded the honor of Family Business of the Year by Black Enterprise magazine. And as sweet as her success has been no pun intended. It hasn't come easy. As you'll hear today, Mignon has persevered through some real adversity. But you'll also hear just how strong her mentality is. And for her, that strength comes from her faith. Now, Faith is an incredibly personal thing. And it looks different for each one of us. But when you know what you believe in, whether that's religious faith, a sense of spirituality, or simply core values you hold dear, you've got an anchor that will help you stay strong and grounded. As you make your decisions and navigate all the challenges of leadership. I know this conversation is going to inspire you. So let's get into it. Here's my conversation with my good friend hence soon to be yours, Mignon Francoise.

I want to get into how you lead and grew this incredible business that you created from scratch. I want to take you back. What's the story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader that you are today.

Mignon Francois 2:03 

My mother was always in leadership roles. And we were always with her. So we would either get in her car and drive downtown to where she worked, and catch our bus to school from there. And she always brought our work home. My mother was always finding herself with work at home. And so no matter what she was doing, it was always in a role of telling somebody else what to do or how it should be done. And she would stay up late into the midnight hour doing work. So I became the kind of leader that I am because of who my parents were.

David Novak 2:43 

I understand you actually wanted to be a doctor. Now. When did you know that wasn't for you.

Mignon Francois 2:49 

I couldn't apply what they were talking about. All my other friends who were in college with me were getting it and they were getting out of the labs early. And I never got out of lab early. And I just didn't know I think I was immature. I went to college really young. I just really didn't know what it took. Because school always came easy to me before college college is where it didn't come easy. But had I known what it took to actually study. I probably would be in a position right now today who was making cakes for all of my patients?

David Novak 3:26 

Well, you're probably one of the people who could probably do both. But I imagine you had to be this great culinary expert. No,

Mignon Francois 3:33 

I couldn't even bake not even out of a box, you got to be kidding me. It was in my kitchen that I discovered that this science that I had been learning in college also applied to flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. And when they collide it together, I was able to make a recipe that I could use. And so I took what my grandmother had been teaching me over the phone. And I applied what I knew from school or the lab to what she was writing because it dawned on me just one day in my kitchen that wait a minute, these are elements on the periodic table, and all I need to do is manipulate them so that I get what I want them to do. And once I got that there was nothing I couldn't make and all the recipes are mine. There is nothing that I have been unable to do. I'm working on sugar free things right now. And I'm finding out that I could manipulate some more naturally occurring sweeteners so that everybody could have something to celebrate with.

David Novak 4:38 

Tell us about the brand and what inspired you to create it

Mignon Francois 4:42 

necessity. I was drowning in debt and brokenness. I was losing everything that I had. Dave Ramsey said that people could get out of debt by having a bake sale and I believed that I had been following his show and I've been hearing all these people say we're debt free and that That's the kind of thing I want it for my life is the freedom I wanted to experience. It was the way that my parents had raised us to be. And so I had found myself in a situation that was not like what I was taught to be are taught to do. And so I wanted that, for that reason I wanted, I wanted water that turned on because I turned the knob, I wanted lights that came on, because we flipped the switch.

David Novak 5:28 

How did you get in that type of situation, because you're obviously a very smart person, well educated, you know how to get in that dire situation.

Mignon Francois 5:36 

I was a stay at home mom. My job was to manage the household and the money that my ex husband, my then husband would bring home to me. Well, he wasn't raised in the same kind of environment that I was raised in. So delayed gratification wasn't something that I feel like he really understood. So it was I'll bring you whatever I have left. That's when I started stuffing money in envelopes, and hiding money so that I could make sure that we had the ends to me, it took me a long time to get to a place where I was able to buy myself a car. It took me a long time to where I was able to rebuild my credit. Eventually, I was able to own that house where the cupcake collection exists right now today. And we were losing it on the day that we opened the cupcake collection. So I think that this is a testament to really what you could do. If only you believe it's

David Novak 6:33 

interesting. You say Dave Ramsey inspired you to do this. Did you ever send them a bunch of cupcakes and say, Hey, thank you, Dave.

Mignon Francois 6:41 

Actually, in my new book made from scratch. There's a whole chapter dedicated to Dave Ramsey, and his called Phone a friend. I consider him you know, a friend to the business. I even got a chance to kick off the year by being their keynote speaker to all of their employees, one January. Oh,

David Novak 7:02 

that's great. You know, and you've been enormously successful with the cupcake collection. And obviously, it's not easy. What was the toughest time you had to really get this business over the top to where it is now where you're adding stores and growing.

Mignon Francois 7:17 

I think one of the toughest times I had was believing that once I got the store open that people would just come, I placed a sign outside of the house and bakery coming soon, we had this grand opening and all our friends came. And then after that no one else, no one came back, which is an indication that you can't depend on your friends to help you make your business succeed. You gotta get out there and work. The process, you got to work the ground yourself. And so as I would stand in these two big eight foot windows or out the front of my house, I would see real estate agents come and I would go outside and I would say, Hey, my name is Vanessa Francoise. I'm in your baking oven, a bakery coming soon. My family says it's good, but they love me. And I just want to see what strangers might think. And those people began to offer me money right on the street for everything else I had in my hands.

David Novak 8:11 

I understand that your first order was 600 cupcakes, and you didn't even have enough money for all the ingredients. How do you find a way? How do you get it done?

Mignon Francois 8:21 

Yeah, I remember when my neighbor knocked on the door and offered me this opportunity to make cupcakes for her. And I didn't even have lights on in the house. The electricity was disconnected. And she offered me this opportunity. I said, Okay, I'll do it. Not knowing how I was gonna get it done. I put on my shoes, and I went to the store. And I bought everything that I could buy with the $5 that I had. And I knew that she said she would pay me what I gave her some product. So I got enough to get a payday. Even if it was just $60 Which is what it was. I turned that five into 60. That day, I turned that 60 into 600 by the end of the week, and it's been that same money. I've been flipping for the last 17 years. I've done this with no debt. I did it with no experience. I did it with no knowledge of the business and I did it losing everything that I had.

David Novak 9:13 

It's clear that you have this incredible find a way mentality. What other traits do you think are absolutely essential for entrepreneurs if they want to be successful,

Mignon Francois 9:23 

I think that you have to be a quitter. quitter.

David Novak 9:27 

Come on, explain now.

Mignon Francois 9:30 

I think you have to be a quitter, you have to quit quitting on yourself. So it so that's one of the things that entrepreneurs have to be I think they have to be regimented. I think they have to understand that after a grind, they have to rest and recover. I think that entrepreneurs have to know how to listen to their heart, listen to their gut, or like I call it follow their spirit because you're going to do something that no one else has done before or you're going to improve on something that's never been improved. done before. So you've got to be able to not listen to the naysayers. So it's like, what are you lending your ear to. So they have to be people who are very decisive. And they have to be able to articulate what it is that they want from other people, because you have to make other people buy into what it is that you're doing, so that they follow along. You

David Novak 10:25 

know, you use what you call your follow your spirit approach. Tell us about that.

Mignon Francois 10:29 

I believe that the Holy Spirit goes out before you that he considers everything that you're going to run into into a day. I believe that if you wake up in the morning and ask God a question, and give him a timeframe to answer it by He will answer you. And so every morning when I get up in the morning, before I put my feet on the floor, before I do anything else, I usually try to say good morning God, one of my best friend just told me this, she said, I would start speaking to the Holy Spirit, if I were you, he has never let you down. And so I began to say good morning, Holy Spirit. And you know, I just asked God a question. I recently found out while I was reading in the Bible that even King David did that. In the mornings, when he would wake up, he would ask out a question. And he fully expected that guy would answer. And all along, I thought I came up with that idea. But it was actually something that kings would do in ancient times. I believe that if you would do that, that God would direct your path. It's actually a promise of God that says, if in all your ways you acknowledge me, I would show you which way to go. And so I believe that even goes down to being stuck in traffic. God knows that I hate traffic. And he doesn't want me to be stuck in any of it. And so he'll whisper into Maurice me, don't go that way. And then sure enough, I'm disobedient. I always gotta learn the hard way. I go that way and get stuck in traffic. But as I've become more successful, I'm learning to follow God into the teeny tiny spaces that he's leading me into.

David Novak 11:55 

I gotta ask, yeah, how do you know God speaking to you? You say, Yeah, God talking to you. Sounds like you got this one on one conversation with the big guy. Yeah, where does it come from? You

Mignon Francois 12:08 

have to know what God's voice sounds like there's, there's a Bible verses says, My sheep know my voice. And they hearken unto it, it's like a muscle that you begin to flex or that you begin to strengthen. And the more you use it, and the more you answer to it, and the more you test it, the more you will know that it is the voice of God. But you have to be able to pare it back to what the Word of God says, You got to know what kinds of things God would say, you have to know what the character of God is. So when you feel this inkling on the inside of us that I think God is telling me to do this, you have to be able to run it back and make it make sense out of the Word of God for things that he would say, with the enemy will never tell you to do anything good, or kind, or giving. And these are all things that God would always do something that's always going to be giving are kind or true, it's never going to ask you to tell a lie. It's always going to increase you with more. And this is going to push you beyond your limits. But the Holy Spirit knows what you really desire on the inside of your heart. So when those things that you've never made audible before start coming to life, you kind of think, maybe that's God,

David Novak 13:22 

thank you so much for sharing that, you know, when I interviewed array Levine, he's the co founder of ways. He talked about the importance of every business solving a problem for their customers. How have you thought through that for the cupcake collection,

Mignon Francois 13:39 

I knew that we needed a bakery. First of all, because I'm from New Orleans, we had good bakeries everywhere that was fresh baked products that you could go and get for just a you know, a few nickels or pennies when I was growing up. And so I love cake. In my love language. I say my love languages cake. And without that ability to get that good homemade flavor that my grandmother may, I knew we needed something like that in our little Germantown neighborhood. And so we needed a sandwich shop we needed. I didn't know that we needed a little hotel, but I found out when they put one across the street from me a little boutique hotel out of one of the little McMansions that we had in the neighborhood. So it was something that I understood that I could fulfill a need and I had a major Sweet Tooth I felt like everybody else did. I didn't know that everybody didn't love sugar just as much as I do.

David Novak 14:37 

By the way, I'm not sure I'm gonna really like this sugar free cupcake. That's not what I think of when I think of cupcakes. In what ways Mignon Have you have you tapped into customer insights as you've built your business? How do you stay plugged in to what the customer may be looking for?

Mignon Francois 14:53 

I have always been a good listener. It has been my customers that have been driving the needle for me the whole time, we were one of the first food trucks in the city of Nashville, we were the very first dessert truck in the city. It was because a customer of mine emailed me and said, Hey, I just got back from LA. And she said, this is the new wave of things that is coming, and you should do it. And so I did it. I was not afraid to try something different. And so because I stayed connected to them, it was collaboration that was always key.

Koula Callahan 15:32 

Have you ever wondered what David is thinking as he interviews our guests each week? Or have you been interested in hearing David's take on some of the questions that he asks his guest? Well, I do. And I know a lot of you do, too. My name is Kula Callahan. And together with David, I host the three more questions podcast that airs every Monday. These episodes are just about 15 minutes. And in them, I asked David three questions that dive deeper into the themes of his episode with his guests. David shares incredible insights and stories from his career leading yum brands. And all of His answers are super practical and inspiring. Like this great insight David shared and one of our most recent, three more questions episodes,

David Novak 16:15 

you know, always wanted to be a president of the division. And now I had a chance to do that job. So I'm on this flight. And I asked myself, What kind of President am I going to be? And I thought about all the presidents of the PepsiCo divisions, and they were very formal. They were MBAs, they were very serious, you know, they kind of had a little bit of emotional detachment from the people that they lead so that they could make the so called tough calls. And I thought about myself, and I said, you know, I'm not really that kind of person. I like getting emotionally engaged with people. You know, I like to have fun, I've got some blue suits, but I usually take the coat off. And when I'm walking around the office with my red tie, that's already got a couple spots on it, my shirt tails hanging out. And, you know, that's just who I am. So I kind of just said to myself, well, I'm going to be the same kind of President that I have been leader that's gotten me to this place, and I'm gonna be true to who I am. being open, being vulnerable, being transparent, being honest with people not worry about getting close to people, because I may have to fire him someday, you know, continuing to lead like a voice lead was the key to my success.

Koula Callahan 17:29 

Get the three more questions, podcasts and your feed each Monday and dive even deeper into the episodes you know and love. Just subscribe to how leaders lead wherever you get your podcasts.

David Novak 17:47 

You know, one of the things I know the restaurant businesses, and I'm sure your businesses, it's driven by cash flow, they no question about that in and you've been very mindful of cash flow. What advice do you have for leaders around operating the financial parts of their business with excellence,

Mignon Francois 18:04 

it's about living under your means. It's about staying out of debt. One of the things that I did in order to find success in my business was I look to the past to inform my future. I looked at what happened during the Great Depression, because I opened this business during a downturn in economic downturn. So I opened this business in 2008, when the economy was down. So I believe this is a great time to start a business when people are talking recession. And when people are trying to save their dollars. I think when people are being laid off, it gives you an opportunity look and say what do I have in my house that I can use to take me from where I am to where it is that I want to be? And so I looked at the past. And I saw how the Hilton's came out the Procter and Gamble, like what, who were the big names that emerged out of the ashes of the Great Depression, and how did they do it? They did it because they were cash rich, it was their cash position that did it for them. And so I always wanted to be in a strong cash position. So we don't we don't carry that for that reason.

David Novak 19:09 

You know, you say businesses like a baby, explain what you mean by that.

Mignon Francois 19:13 

Raising my business has been a lot like raising my children, you know, when people are trying to decide when you know, is the right time to, you know, step away from your business or hire people to help? Well, I think it's a lot like a baby. For me, I wouldn't leave my newborn if I had the choice because every mother doesn't have the choice. Every parent doesn't have the choice, but I wouldn't just leave my newborn with anybody. And if I had to leave them with somebody who would be under very strict, you know, requirements, but in those first six weeks that the baby is born, that babies attached to its mother and so I sort of like married it to what it looked like when I was willing to let my children spend the night with someone. You know, they had to be five years old before they could spend the night away from Me or, you know, if I was going to they were going to go off to school and just even the way you matriculate through school, I think it's the same way with a business. You

David Novak 20:09 

know, at a certain point, I'm sure you realize this. And you know what, even more today you can't do everything by yourself or you'll just burn out, you'll exhaust yourself. I'm interested in who was your first employee? And and what do you have them do? My

Mignon Francois 20:24 

first employee was my son. I had him serving people on the front end. And then he started going across the street with a table to the farmers market and sitting at the farmers market selling cupcakes for brand awareness.

David Novak 20:39 

And then, as I understand it, you have a real family business, that isn't easy for a lot of people, and how have you been able to maintain that family feel as you've grown?

Mignon Francois 20:51 

One of the things I'm most proud of is my relationship with my children. And people ask me what is one of your greatest accomplishments is raising children that are kind that love their mother. And I believe that that has been one of the greatest testaments to why our family business works. Because we have mutual respect for one another, we fight, but we also forgive. And so I think that has been the thing that has helped me my children have been my greatest cheerleaders. And so if you can give birth to your whole staff, go ahead and do it.

David Novak 21:24 

Tell me about this tip jar, you have it the cupcake collection, and what makes it so special.

Mignon Francois 21:29 

The whole Tip Jar experience came from my children bringing me a glass pickle jar that they had washed out and decorated, because they wanted people to show their appreciation for my work. I was just starting out, we really weren't making money, everything that we had was going to go back to field trips for them and things they needed for school. And so they wanted people to put money in that tip jar for me. So I told them from that day, anything that comes to this tip jar will belong to you. And all I need you to do is after school come and help me clean up. And so that's what they did. They became my first, you know, dishwashers and cashiers, and people cleaning up after me because they didn't know how to do any of the work at the time. But people in the neighborhood of Germantown began to know that my children only worked for tips. So even if they were allergic to everything in the building, they would come in sometimes and just put money in the tip jar. And just say we want Xavier to go to college. And we want to Dylan to make it and so they would just put money in the tip jar. I remember a friend came by and bought a couple cupcakes, they showed me by like two cupcakes. And she left a $90 tip in the tip jar.

David Novak 22:38 

Now walk me through the decision making process you use to expand your business and now move into multiple occasions like you're doing.

Mignon Francois 22:45 

I remember going to New Orleans after my divorce. My friends were like you need to get out and let's go home. And so we went home for a visit. And I recognized after Katrina that things 13 years later still weren't back to normal. And so I had this business that was doing really well in Nashville, Tennessee, I always say New Orleans raised me but Nashville made me. And so I was I was in Nashville, having success. And I thought I want to bring my business and help to rebuild the city where I'm from, because we are the flavor of this of our city. And now we've been there for six years, it has not been easy. It's not been easy to be so far away from it. But every time we struggle, I always remind God, you told me to do this. So you're responsible for the success of this?

David Novak 23:38 

How have you built up the business acumen to make these decisions? I know you talk to God, I get that part. You got to you've got to come to the party and grow as a leader and pick up the skills and I'm sure he's helping you do that. But how have you done it?

Mignon Francois 23:53 

I again have listened to those that are smarter than me or you know, as I enter into rooms, I believe that you are the sum total of the five people that you hang around with. And so I've always been hanging around people who I admire. And those people would say, Hey, you, you should think about joining this program or hey, would you come to this dinner, I want to introduce you to this person. I always made myself available to those things. But it was one major move that I believe really propelled me and that was my my neighbor came from across the street, she had bought the house of the woman who propelled me into the business into the first place. But before that woman left the neighborhood, she made sure to introduce me to the new person taking over her house and says she's gonna take care of you just like I did. And one of the things she said was, we have this program at the Entrepreneur Center. She was part of the entrepreneur organization, and it was called Catalyst you had to be making a certain amount of money in your business for them to take you on but I applied I didn't even realize how much money I had been making at that point. Because I was just you know how they say you can't see the picture because you're the frame and you I didn't even realize that we were, we were certain we were not only surviving, we were beginning to thrive. And so I applied to be in the program. And it was there that I began to raise my hand in the room and say, Hey, can you pause? I don't know what that means. I don't know why. Why should I care about a profit and loss statement? Or why do I need to know what the bottom line is? And what is this bottom line? And how deep does this bottom line go? And it was things like that, that they would laugh and say, Oh, my God, let me teach you. And then it was just it became an endearing thing that they wanted me to learn. And so I began to understand what those things were. And as I understood, I began to teach others because my mother taught me that if you want to solidify what you really know, then teach someone else.

David Novak 25:46 

That's a great point, you know, and, and one of the things I know Mignon that you're known for is that you show up as a leader, you're very transparent, you know, what you see is what you get. And you can tell that from this conversation, you're, you're, you're not holding back. And you're you're talking about what you believe with all your heart. It gives me a story where, you know, having this courage to speak up and be who you are really paid off for

Mignon Francois 26:10 

you. Having the courage to stand up and be who I am. Probably, as I've taken stages, and I've gone out there to tell my story. Some people wouldn't tell what I've been through. Some people would never let anybody in, to really let them know what they've experienced. But when I wrote this book, I really got vulnerable. I mean, I really am standing out there in the rain without an umbrella, like, I've made some mistakes, and some things have happened to me. But I'm understanding that the more transparent I am, the more it's drawing people to me, for them to say, Me, too. You're not alone, you're not the only one. And for me to reach my hand back out and say, I'll hold your hand through this. I've got you. I understand where you are right now. And I think that has been a saving grace for me. But it's also helping other people to try something that they're a little bit afraid to do.

David Novak 27:16 

I heard you say that collaboration is the new competition? When did that phrase become real to you? What do you mean by during

Mignon Francois 27:24 

the pandemic, we were hit by two storms, we were in the eye of a tornado that just flattened my whole entire neighborhood. And the cupcake collection was one of the only things standing in this block. And all of the rest of the houses were either decimated or just gone. And I needed help to be able to run my store for the days that we were without electricity. Because like I said before, we don't we don't operate on debt. So we operate on what we make. And so I put a call out that I needed a place to do five pop up shops for two days apiece in order to recover those 10 days. And someone who was a friend of mine in business, she was the VP of Marketing for to Z keys. And she called and she said mignon, I heard you need to help will come down and see my stores. And let's see what we can do. And she said I have nine stores in the city, you can put your cupcakes in all nine of them. And guess what we can do this until you get tired. And so together, we started to figure out what we're going to do to pop up and then the Monday that we were supposed to start the pandemic hit, we had a ban on going outside and nobody could get out. And so not only did we need them, but they needed us. And so we both needed each other. And so we began to deliver product to them. And they began to you know, just buy more product. And that kept us going and it increased their bottom line by 166%. So we were The Little Engine That Could at that point. And when I realized what we had the capability of doing, it was like oh, we need more collaborators.

David Novak 29:05 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Mignon Francoise in just a moment. As you can hear Mignon is a transparent leader who isn't afraid to be yourself. People are drawn to that kind of authenticity, because they know it's a leader they can trust. It reminds me of a conversation I had with another great entrepreneur who has stayed true to who she is. And that's Corey Robertson, one of the stars of the hit reality TV show, Duck Dynasty.

Korie Robertson 29:34 

You know, one of the things we talked about just so much with our kids is like you are who you are, whether you're in the spotlight, or whether the adults hand the scenes when they're in your work or your home or whatever. And just being really true to who you are, wherever you are, I think is so important. And one of the things our daughter Sadie said one time someone asked like, how do you think you know, you kind of stay grounded? And she was like, you know, we're really the same people as home. As we are in public, so that's just how it is. So I hope to think that that's how we lived our life.

David Novak 30:06 

Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Cory, Episode 145 here on how leaders lead. Utah talk about the importance of joy. Explain. I have

Mignon Francois 30:23 

been through so many trials in my life. And one of the things that God said to me was counted all joy, when you experienced trials of many kinds, knowing that these trials come to increase your perseverance. And when your perseverance is mature, and complete, venule lack nothing. And so every time something would come, that would like want to knock me down and make me feel bad, I would just say, count it all joy, I counted all joy, I declare Joy, I declare Joy, I declare Joy until I felt it. And it began to move the needle for me that I didn't have to sit down and be sad or sulk about my situations that I could count it all joy when I was experiencing anything, because God had promised me that joy was gonna rise out of the ashes.

David Novak 31:12 

You love donuts? As I understand it, are we going to see a donut chain coming out of you?

Mignon Francois 31:17 

I'm gonna leave the donuts to the people who do that best. You know, I always believe that I don't want to reinvent the wheel, I just want to do classic things. Well, I just want to do the one thing that I know how to do it. That is cake. Now I make a pretty mean set of cookies. But I'm not gonna I don't find myself getting into the cookie business anytime soon, either. I just want to do this thing very well, that I've been called to do. And then I'm just gonna go around the world eating the best donuts ever.

David Novak 31:48 

Have you had any national brands contact you wanting to work on a licensing agreement? And how do you think through that?

Mignon Francois 31:56 

I cannot reveal yet the one that I'm working on right now. But I've got a really major one that makes total sense right now. And I'm so excited about what we're getting ready to collaborate and create in the atmosphere for other girls that look like me who may not have known what they could have done until they saw it.

David Novak 32:16 

Oh, that's great. Well, I'm going to stay tuned and look forward to that. And, you know, Mignon This has been so much fun. And I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this?

Mignon Francois 32:27 

Okay, I'm nervous about Lightning Rounds. I never do really good at though.

David Novak 32:30 

What three words best describe you? Oh,

Mignon Francois 32:33 

I would say dramatic. I would say generous. And

David Novak 32:40 

kind. If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be?

Mignon Francois 32:45 

Oprah Winfrey, hands down?

David Novak 32:47 

Who would play you in a movie? Tisha Campbell, I

Mignon Francois 32:50 

get so much that we look a lot like,

David Novak 32:53 

what's your go to cupcake flavor?

Mignon Francois 32:56 

Coconut cream. It's the one that my grandmother would make for me on the drop of a dime. And it's the one that I feel like people sleep on the most,

David Novak 33:05 

your most distinct cupcake flavor. Sweet potato.

Mignon Francois 33:08 

It's a cupcake collection original. And if you ever meet another one, it wants to be this one.

David Novak 33:15 

And you know, you talked about joy. What's one of your joy blockers takes the joy out of

Mignon Francois 33:22 

you. I can't stand mean people. And

David Novak 33:25 

what's something that really brings you tremendous joy? My children. Describe your last I can't believe this is happening to me moment. Well,

Mignon Francois 33:35 

I'm in it right now. I can't believe this is happening to me right now as I get to unlock doors for the people who are coming behind me. And I get to take stages that I never believed that I would be able to take. And I'm getting to rub elbows and work with people I've been fans of for a really long time. So I but I guess if I would put my hand on one thing. It was when the book made number one in new releases on Amazon.

David Novak 34:05 

What's one of your daily rituals? Something that you'd never miss?

Mignon Francois 34:09 

Something I never, never miss would be prayer with God. If

David Novak 34:13 

I turned on the radio in your car. What would I hear?

Mignon Francois 34:16 

Oh, probably a podcast? Thurman probably or a book that I'm reading.

David Novak 34:22 

What's something about you? Few people would know that I never

Mignon Francois 34:26 

thought I was pretty until I was 33 years old. But my name has meant beautiful my whole life.

David Novak 34:33 

And that's the end of the lightning round. You did very well. That was good. I just have a few more questions. I'll let you get back to baking cupcakes here. You know, you've had so many people champion your success. Now, what are you doing right now to turn that around and do it for others?

Mignon Francois 34:48 

I believe in keeping my hand open. So I'm spending time at the Entrepreneur Center where I serve on the board as well as a mentor. And then every time they call me I'm out They're to be able to show others what they can do. So tomorrow I'm teaching at Lipscomb all day long serving, to show other students how their faith, kids show up in their leadership roles.

David Novak 35:12 

And I'm curious, when young, what do you see as your unfinished business,

Mignon Francois 35:16 

I want to travel and be able to do some of the things I've never been able to do before. And I have desires of my heart that I've not been able to handle that just just are for me, as just as a woman, or just as a girl who sees an opportunity that she can see. So I just want to travel the world. And I want to be able to start businesses and other cities and places. Oh, serial entrepreneurship is important to me. Last

David Novak 35:44 

question here. What's one piece of advice you've given to someone who wants to be a better leader? Speak

Mignon Francois 35:50 

what you seek until you see what you said, I believe that the power of life and death lie in our tongue. And I believe that we have the power to call things into existence. I think if we look at the Bible for what it is God showed us, through the creation story, that we would be able to speak things that are not here as though they already were. And so that's what I would tell someone who wants to be a better leader. It starts with what you say, that is

David Novak 36:20 

so poignant. And just an outstanding piece of advice. And mignon, I wish you so much as you seek to dominate the world and do it in the way that makes you you. You were a very authentic leader, for sure. And someone that I admire just after meeting you during this conversation. So thank you so much for being on the show.

Mignon Francois 36:40 

Thank you for having me.

David Novak 36:52 

I want you to know, I think you're gonna love reading Mignon 's book made from scratch. And then I recommend that you swing by her shop the next time you're down in Nashville for one of those sweet potato cupcakes. You know, talking to mignon, it's clear that she gets the importance of being who you are. And for her, that means a strong belief in God and a powerful connection to her faith. Now, you may or may not consider yourself to be a spiritual person. But as a leader, it's so important to have a core set of beliefs to guide you. Because when you listen to Mignon story, it's clear. Knowing what she believes in has been a key part of her success at the cupcake collection. It's guided her decisions and kept her going in tough times. Don't underestimate the importance of having that kind of anchoring presents in your life. So now let me ask you do you have a belief system or a set of core values that can anchor you through thick and thin? Take time this week to consider how your beliefs and values impact the way you lead and live? Jot down your thoughts to really get clear on what those values are? Figure out why they matter, and how they should show up in your leadership. So do you want to know how leaders lead what we learned today is the great leaders know what they believe in. Coming up next on how leaders lead is Brett bear, Chief Political anchor of Fox News Channel and executive editor. A special report with Brett bear.

Speaker 1 38:24 

One of the things I learned about interviewing over time, and a good friend of mine was the late Tim Russert who told me Listen, Brett, it's not about the questions. It's about listening to the answers.

David Novak 38:36 

So be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be