Jason LaRose on Loving Growth

Jason LaRose has built quite a reputation for himself throughout his career in his desire to help companies scale and grow. He worked for companies like Under Armour, where he became their President of the North America Region. He then went onto Equinox Media, where he served as the CEO, helping them build out their technologies and their content. From there, he co-founded and became President of a company called The Post, which is actually how we got connected; The Post has created a community for former athletes, and some current athletes, to come together to learn together and support each other. It is an amazing networking group that continues to grow. Most recently, he became the President of Bombas. If you’re unfamiliar with Bombas, it is an incredible, mission-driven apparel company (and as I said to Jason, I am currently wearing their socks, their socks are really what put them on the map). They created a company that not just created comfortable and quality socks, but also with a mission behind it where they give away apparel for every apparel that’s bought, and they support homeless shelters all throughout the country. So, Jason is somebody who’s been at the ground level of companies, he’s helped companies scale and grow from $1 billion to $5 billion, and at his core he’s someone who considers himself to be an operator, he considers himself to be someone who can create strategy and execute by using amazing systems, and I think that’s going to come across in today’s conversation. And he’s someone who clearly values culture; he values mission, he values doing good while also doing well. I think he has great clarity and it’s going to come across in our conversation as far as what he sees a successful business is and his own growth as he’s developed himself through the years. Jason had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include: “The mission at Bombas is just too hard to pass up” (5:55). “The mission [at Bombas] is who we are; it’s why the company was founded in the first place” (7:25). “At Bombas, we give [the consumer] a way to be a part of the solution” (8:10). “Brand is a promise” (12:00). “At Bombas, we talk about three words all the time: comfort, quality, and mission” (12:25). “Everything contributes to mission” (13:35), “Mission only matters [at Bombas] if you sell” (14:00). “I probably hate to lose more than I love to win” (19:05). “I love to look out and see the potential conditions for success being there” (19:15). “More than anything, what I love is growth” (19:30). “I’m not very good at [being] content” (23:20). “Over time, I’ve learned to be more appreciative and take those moments to reflect” (26:55). “Founders are special people” (28:50). “I’m enamored with people who know things that I don’t know” (29:25). “Really great founders are maniacal about their brands” (32:15). “Scale doesn’t come just because you have a great idea” (33:40). “What athletes are most amazing at is watching the film” (39:35). “Great athletes and great coaches don’t only have one solution” (43:20). “Once you get people aligned around the mission, you can do almost anything” (44:15). Additionally, you can follow Bombas on all social media platforms and connect with Jason on LinkedIn. Thank you so much to Jason for coming on the podcast! I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers. Thanks for listening.