PHILADELPHIA – Emaciated and delirious from cold, fatigue and hunger, Todd Carmichael nearly froze to death in Antarctica on a 39-day, seven-hour trek from the coast to the South Pole. He's been shot at and knifed in the ribs in his pursuit of the best beans around the globe.
But there's something else that terrifies Carmichael, 53, chief executive and co-founder of La Colombe Torrefaction Inc., the Philadelphia-based coffee roaster with national ambitions and a line of cold-draft lattes soon to be available in 7,000 stores.
"I have this sense that there are a lot of people who fall asleep," he said.
"They have 20 years' experience being a CEO or they have one experience but experience it over and over for 20 years. … They're going through the motions, because they're really good at them. I don't want that."
Q: But how do you avoid falling asleep?
A: You do something outside of your normal. Misbehave. Don't compromise alliances and allegiances, but do something unexpected that your heroes would do.
Q: You talk about climbing a mountain, metaphorically.
A: If you're lucky, your mountain is lying in the road, right on your journey.
