TURNING POINT
A career-changing moment or experience
Frozen Food CEO
Warms to Speaking Career
About three years ago, I realized that I was getting in my own way. I had been CEO of my family’s business, The Bama Companies, for a
little over 20 years. I had travelled the
world spreading our products and our
message of quality to our customers,
which include the largest hamburger
and pizza chains in the world. I had
managed my company to be one that
valued people and relationships, I surrounded myself with the best team I
could find and I implemented a standard of quality in our frozen food
products that was unmatched in the
industry. I thought I was doing pretty
well—that is, until one day when my
management team approached me to
tell me something.
improvement and, at the moment, I
realized that I was stopping my team,
my company, and even myself from
moving forward.
A popular saying comes to mind:
“When you love something, you have
to let it go.” I knew it was time for
me to let go of the reins and allow my
team and my company to grow and
mature. This was no easy task because
my company was part of me I did
not know how to facilitate change.”
I turned to a dear friend, Jim Stovall,
who is a successful entrepreneur, motivational speaker and author. We had
coffee together and it turned into one
of the most important meetings of my
life. Jim helped me accept that it was
OK to move on to another phase in my
life, and he pushed me towards the idea
of speaking. I had spoken at hundreds
of community events and conferences
in my role as a CEO, but he was talking
about telling my personal story as a
female CEO. Jim convinced me that my
…I realized that
I was stopping my
team, my company,
and even myself from
moving forward.
Their nervous faces frantically
searched each other, but they avoided
mine. Finally, my team mustered up the
nerve to admit that I was holding them
back because I had been at my post
for so long that I had grown comfort-
able telling them how to do things, and
comfortable in not listening to their
recommendations in how to improve
operations. One of the main tenets
at Bama is to strive for continuous
story could help other overcome chal-
lenges, as his own speaking had done
throughout his career.
Paula Marshall is the chair and CEO of the Bama Companies, a large-scale frozen food manufacturing company. She is a keynote speaker and author.
Marshall’s latest book Sweet as Pie, Tough as
Nails, is available on Amazon.
