Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant Gives Advice For Success: ‘Don’t Try To Be A Black Belt In Everything’

Taco Bell’s CEO Sean Tresvant says the key to success and climbing the company ladder is not pretending to be a whiz at everything, Money Control reports.

While appearing on LinkedIn’s “This Is Working With Daniel Roth” podcast, the first Black CEO to run the Mexican-inspired fast food chain revealed the best advice he received while transitioning from chief brand officer to CEO in January 2024. “When I transitioned from being the chief brand officer to the CEO, some great advice I got was, don’t try to be a black belt in everything,” Tresvant said, labeling it the “biggest surprise.” He continued to reveal that, since he was given the golden nugget, the 43-year-old now says that instead of attempting to be an expert on everything, he stuck to being a “black belt in marketing and “a brown belt in everything else.”

After holding executive positions at Nike and Sports Illustrated, Tresvant learned that a successful manager’s strength truly shows when they admit to not knowing everything. That’s something he identified that helped the transition within Taco Bell come out smoothly — knowing your strengths and weaknesses and then simply going to a team member that possesses those skill sets. “That’s what I think helped me to be successful early on because I’m not trying to be everything,” the first-time CEO said. 

“I understand I’m not a CFO, but I have a great CFO who can lead the business.”

According to MSN, the tactic is a sign of “great leadership.” It allows those around to get a shot at developing their own set of skills, which could result in them being afforded other opportunities. “I’m not trying to be everything,” Tresvant said. “Leaders who try to be everything to everybody, and try to maybe be a little too micro and don’t empower their teams to lead — I think that’s when the teams aren’t at their best. I try to be a good leader who understands what I’m good at, but also understands what other people are good at, and make sure I’m giving them the space to be great.” 

Communications expert Matt Abrahams supported the CEO’s theory of good leadership by providing advice on ways to build successful relationships in the workplace. The first step is asking questions. Posing strong questions demonstrates that you care, it demonstrates empathy, it demonstrates you’re willing to learn, and in some cases, admit you don’t know everything,” Abrahams said. 

“Those are all valuable tools and assets to have when you’re trying to grow your career or deepen relationships.” 

On the podcast, “The Path,” leadership wizard Charlene Li said admitting to not knowing something is the fine line to cross into success. “You can open to a learner’s mindset, and that is absolutely crucial,” she said. Li also highlighted that having the balance of humility aligned with confidence can garner improvement from failure and get back up if one falls.

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