Several years ago, I interviewed Jennifer Schuler in an interview originally published in Thrive Global. Jennifer Schuler is the CEO of Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and the former CEO of Wetzel’s Pretzels. Here is an excerpt from our interview:

Adam: How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Jennifer: I spent five years in Brand Management at General Mills where I cultivated a passion for food. I left the industry and toyed around in other spaces like healthcare and education. Before I joined Wetzel’s Pretzels, I reflected on times in my career when I was “in flow” – where the work was enjoyable and I drove positive results with ease. 

I got really clear on what criteria I had for my next job, what type of environment I thrive in and as a result, I was highly targeted in my job search. Wetzel’s Pretzels fired on all those things – a strong brand in the food space, a product I loved as a consumer, and a company I believed had untapped growth potential. And, did I mention? After spending years commuting three hours a day, I found a company located 10 minutes from my house!

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

The huge changes the pandemic created in how we live and work make it a particularly exciting time to be a leader. If you embrace a growth mindset, it can be a time of tremendous personal development for leaders and an opportunity to have a positive impact on people. Today, effective leaders are creating an organization founded on trust, view employees as whole people, and create opportunities for others that are at the intersection of company goals and individuals’ passions. I find that we get the greatest results with the most ease when we factor in personal growth and individual strengths equally with business objectives. 

There are a lot of ways a company can win or grow and when you focus on those ways that are exciting to your team, the growth comes a whole lot easier and is more rewarding for everyone. I think the days of ping pong tables, kombucha on tap, and “cool corporate cultures” are gone. People want to know they can flex their schedule to go on vacation, take an art class, accompany their aging parent to a doctor’s appointment, or get to their kid’s soccer game on time. They want a place where the work can bend around their life. It is an important element of life – but it’s not the foundation.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders? 

Jennifer: 

1. Assume good intent – people are usually coming from a good place and trying to do the right thing. If you assume that you are on the same side of a problem trying to solve it together, everything goes easier.

2. Sleep, hydrate, go outside, and move your body.

3. Pay attention to the non-urgent important stuff. (Hint – it’s not in your email inbox!)

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams? 

Jennifer: Objectivity is critical in making the right business decisions. We are all emotional beings trying to act in rational ways. Pay attention to the emotions you experience and use them as information for how to respond to a situation rather than a catalyst to immediately react to a situation. Take a breath before you write that email or make that phone call to make sure you are acting from your highest self and making data-based decisions.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Jennifer: Get a coach. It’s hard to coach, inspire, or support others in their growth if you aren’t doing it yourself.

Adam: What can anyone to pay it forward?

Jennifer: Reach out to a young person trying to figure out life or their career and take them to lunch. Share your own career path, offer your mentorship and network. And tip restaurant workers. They are short-handed and working especially hard these days to keep us fed!


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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