Who is in your Cabinet
- sparksurgegroup
- Dec 5, 2025
- 1 min read
One of the best decisions I ever made in 20 years of leadership was to stop trying to be the smartest person in every room… and instead build my own personal “Board of Directors.”
I intentionally surrounded myself with a small, trusted cabinet of people who were a couple steps ahead of me in different areas of life and business:
One mentor who had already scaled past $10M taught me financial discipline
A peer in Atlanta who crushed guest experience scores showed me new recovery systems
A fitness coach who kept me healthy when 80-hour weeks were normal
A spiritual advisor who reminded me why I started in the first place
A younger leader I was pouring into who kept my thinking fresh and challenged my blind spots
Just like the President of the United States doesn’t make decisions in a vacuum, I stopped trying to lead in one either. These people held me accountable, coached me through tough seasons, celebrated the wins, and gave me unfiltered feedback when my ego needed it.
Great leaders don’t have all the answers.
Great leaders have great people around them who do.
If you’re leading a team, a restaurant, or an entire brand… build your cabinet.
Find the experts. Give them permission to speak truth.
Be the spark. Create the surge.
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