“I didn’t know what I was good at.” RXBar CEO Peter Rahal shares how Strength-Based Focus Was Crucial to His Success.

           This week’s episode on NPR’s podcast How I Built This with host Guy Raz features a live interview with RXBar CEO and Founder Peter Rahal. If you haven’t had a chance to tune into this gripping podcast yet, How I Built This is a “show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built” (NPR, 2018). Throughout the series, host Guy Raz interviews well-known inventors and entrepreneurs (from Sara Blakeley of Spanx and Alli Webb of Drybar to John Zimmer of Lyft and Chip Wilson of Lululemon) and shares their stories of success—and the advice they’ve picked up along the way. In this live broadcast, now 32-year-old Peter Rahel shares how from humble beginnings (and a $10,000 start in his parents’ basement), he turned berries, nuts, and dates into a $600 million brand.

            At the beginning of the podcast, Rahel shares how “school was probably the first bit of adversity [he] faced in [his] life.” Raz unpacks this loaded statement and discloses how he was “miserable in school,” and quickly discovered how he was “not meant to do anything linear,” which resulted in a battery of cognition tests, therapy, and learning intervention methods to support his eventual diagnosed dyslexia. Rahel shares a heartbreaking memory from his middle school days:

             For example - and I remember specifically in, like, seventh grade where my  friends were      

             going to study hall. And I was pulled out of the normal study hall.   And I was put into a

            special study hall. And so for me I've always just interpreted, like, oh, I'm not normal or I'm

            slow or I'm stupid. So I kind of always punted school and formal education.

              This mindset crippled Rahel, who admitted his embarrassment of his academic ability—or lack thereof, as reinforced by teachers and coaches—“from second grade to age 22.” He explores his sentiment further by underscoring the societal pressures placed upon students today: “I just thought I was, like, not successful because you think about today in our society, like, when you're 12 years old or 16 and even in high school and college, your performance or success is determined based on your marks at school.” After college graduation, Rahel was again met with the hurdle of looming reality by potential employers and interviewers deeming him unfit for the job at hand: “A lot of entry-level jobs require sequential tasks and linear thinking—I’m just not set up for it.” Imagine being told time and time again by first teachers and academic faculty and now the world (via the voices of employers, CEOs, HR reps, and headhunters) that you’re unqualified, unsuitable, inadequate, and ill-equipped.

            This isn’t just a story—this is the dialogue that our students hear every day within our broken school system that highlights the deficits—“Your child talks too much in lecture, always interjecting some story about the subject we’re studying—it’s disrupting our class,” “Your daughter daydreams, is always doodling, and her interactive notebooks are a mess,” “Your son has difficulty with this new narrative writing unit and instead, reverts back to the formulaic method of persuasive analysis” and on and on it goes. Rarely do teachers conduct parent conferences highlighting a student’s intrinsic gifts, strengths, and talents to reframe the area of difficulty: “Your child has such a strong understanding of placement, coupled with an ability to determine how all the pieces can be organized by maximum productivity,” (Gallup CliftonStrengths Theme: Arranger), “Your daughter energizes her classmates with her futuristic visions and ideas, connecting seemingly disparate ideals” (Gallup CliftonStrengths Themes Futuristic and Ideation), or “Your son thrives within routine and structure and is quick to spot relevant patterns and strategies” (Gallup CliftonStrengths Themes: Strategic, Discipline).

             Thankfully, Rahel’s ultimate professional partnership with his 1st-grade friend Jared Smith complemented his strengths areas in such a way that both entrepreneurs could tackle the areas where they felt the most equipped. Rahel reflects on this arrangement: “I'm very lucky that I met Jared and had a humble partner to do this with. I'm very lucky to be dyslexic and the attributes and strengths and weaknesses with that.” Effective collaboration occurs when all parties have a concrete understanding of their strengths and tangible examples of what they can contribute for the betterment of the team and project at hand.

               For the sake of future leaders, collaborators, innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, and developers, let’s finally change the dialogue. Let’s speak into the lives of our students in a way that tells them who they were created and designed to be—coupled with the strengths, passions, gifts, and talents that make them undeniably unique. Because when purpose intersects with passion, it’s a beautiful place.

Raz, Guy. “Live Episode! RXBar: Peter Rahel.” Audio blog post. How I Built This. National Public  

              Radio. 13 Aug. 2018. Web. 21 Aug. 2018