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Ron Shaich is an American entrepreneurial legend. He began his career as the owner of a Boston cookie store. That store became Au Bon Pain. Shaich later became the founder of Panera Bread.

In Shaich’s two decades as chief executive officer of Panera, he generated annualized shareholder returns of 25%. It was the best -performing stock in the restaurant industry. Shaich is credited with defining the $80 billion fast-casual restaurant segment. Today, Shaich is the lead investor in Cava, Tatte, Life Alive, and Level 99.

In 2023, Shaich published a book, Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations. What follows is a discussion of two of those lessons.

Conduct a Yearly “Ultimate Performance Review”

”I cannot tell you whether there is a judgment day ‘up there.’ I can tell you there is one down here, if we have time to face it," Shaich observes. "Barring sudden death or mental incapacitation, the impending final deadline forces each of us to judge the life we have lived. Regardless of whether we believe in God, most of us in our last months on earth will give ourselves the ultimate performance review.”

Instead of waiting for the end of life to conduct this........

© Psychology Today