[ Music ] >> Hello, my name is Kwame Spearman a CEO and co-owner of Tattered Covered bookstores.

This year along with PBS 12, we have launched our Leaders as Readers program.

In which we find out how books have inspired and led our leaders.

Today we have Heidi Ganahl with us.

Heidi, it's great to have you on a show.

>> Thank you so much and happy to be here.

>> Heidi, let's jump in, what is your book?

>> I picked, "The Four Agreements."

It has been here for me through my whole journey as I have mentored young people, as I have looked at how I should be as a leader, when people ask me what my principles of leadership are.

It is pretty simple, but it is really effective in the most important one of The Four Agreements to me is your word is impeccable.

>> Yes, let's go over The Four Agreements, I think that is written on the flap or you can- >> It is a beautiful book.

It sounds really simple but it's really hard to live your life this way.

>> Those are the best books.

Right?

>> It is, be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, and always do your best.

>> So, why did you choose this book?

You said you liked The First Agreement, but just broadly speaking.

>> You know, today, life is really noisy.

It is hard to sit down and read a book front to back.

I love reading but I know that a lot of folks get frustrated, they just want to know what the message is.

They want to get to the point.

So, when I am mentoring somebody or I say here is a really good book to start out in life, I give this to all the graduates in my life.

I just say, just start here.

If you live by these four things, you are going to do pretty well.

Especially, like I said, your word is impeccable.

So many people don't understand the impact of your words and how they define you to other folks and to society.

If you think about it, you know, one word can change something for your entire life, I do, or you know, I don't.

[ Laughing ] >> It's just, it is simple, it is easy to digest, it is something that you can keep on your nightstand.

It is a really short way to espouse your leadership style.

>> So, this book was published in 97.

You have been using it for the past 20 or 25 years?

>> Yes.

>> That's amazing.

>> I started Camp Bow Wow in 2000.

>> Okay.

>> And I love reading so I read lots of leadership books.

Good to great we talked about, and team of rivals.

There are so many that have impacted me along the way.

But when I looked back at the common thread of all of the different things that I have done in my life can't because it's been a crazy ride can't as most people know.

This one was just like that sums it up for me.

>> Let's go back.

You are from monument, Colorado.

Which can't that's one of the most beautiful parts of our state, our entire state is beautiful, but monument is particularly beautiful.

Talk to me about the role of reading growing up and how it affected you as a child.

>> I was raised in a family where the education was so important.

My folks got married very young and they didn't go to college.

My grandfather went to West Point can't my other grandfather is a chemical engineer and a physicist.

I was raised to read, read, read.

I love reading and I loved reading Nancy Drew.

That was my favorite series.

I love the little house on the prairie books.

So, I was the kid that would take a book and tuck it in my side, and I would go away from the other kids.

I was very outgoing, but I just liked to escape.

It has been important to me to build relationships with the characters and kind of have an escape through the crazy stuff that's happening in my life.

When I lost my first husband in a plane crash, books helped me to heal.

I explored my spirituality, my faith.

I explored you know, how other people got through grief.

Crazy hard times.

Books and music were so healing to me.

Still cost to this day, Counting Crows, August in Everything, because he died in 94.

>> Right.

>> It defines that moment for me.

I have some books that do that for me as well.

>> It is so interesting a constant theme that we hear our Leaders as Readers is the use of books for it escape.

It seems like they serve that purpose for you at a time when you are dealing with a horrible loss.

>> Yes.

When I went through, when Camp Bow Wow went through the great recession in 2008, I mean, it is fun to be a leader of a growing fast-paced really popular company.

But when all heck breaks loose, you have to shift things up.

You have to really, that's when it really becomes really important to be a good leader and to model and to help my franchisees get through an incredibly difficult time it was a lot like we been through the last couple of years and people were scared.

I have to figure out how to do things differently and I talked a little bit about Patrick how I run my company, I got them a meeting.

Then, just figuring out how to be a calm leader.

To help people find their joy even in a really difficult time.

How to gut it out.

Also, how to focus on the basics of business.

I read a lot about explaining financial statements and getting through tough times.

How to be inspirational, how to get folks to a point where they are focused on what is good, what could be ahead instead of what is happening in the moment.

Which was really scary.

>> You had a very successful political career.

Before that though, an incredibly successful entrepreneurial career.

I love that you are talking about the role of books there.

Did you know when you are sort of in your 20s that this was the path?

Did books help to get you there?

Could you talk to me little bit about your journey of becoming such an amazing entrepreneur.

>> Oh boy, I was the kid who was always, you know, wanting to start the lemonade stand and do dog walking.

When my first husband and I were married we were in our early 20s.

One of our favorite things to do was to go to the local restaurant which, we lived in Arvada, so it was near the house.

The old location.

We would sit and have a beer and we would write up business ideas on restaurant napkins and just dream.

We came up with some pretty crazy ideas.

>> What was the craziest one?

>> I mean Camp Bow Wow at that time people thought was pretty crazy.

>> Also, very successful.

>> Like you can babysit dogs and get paid to do it?

Yes.

My first company was, I don't talk about this a lot, I was in pharmaceutical sales early on.

I started a will to distributorship called Achoo-Allergy Products.

I would, I was a distributor for asthma, and allergy products.

So, it was nebulizer, peak flow meters and I had this little guy with a red nose sneezing.

That was my first logo.

>> I have asthma.

I literally have my inhaler right here.

I could have been the ad campaign.

>> Yeah, and I focused on, I wanted to help kids get through learning about their asthma and how to deal with it.

I was modeling these pediatric nebulizers and peak flow meters.

That was my first venture into entrepreneurism.

Then, starting a company.

I loved it.

I had a lot to learn.

Then, my 2nd one was actually a baby bedding catalog company called Nursery Works.

>> A baby bedding?

>> I heard bedding.

I heard bedding.

>> You know, how the kids rooms are all themed, so I started it when I was pregnant with my first daughter, Tori.

She is now 27.

I was like wise it's so hard to find cute stuff.

Of course, me, how I am, I was like I can't just go find a good store.

I was like I think I will start something.

I would start the company and do it.

I did that for a couple of years.

I can say this because I'm a mom of four, pregnant women are tough.

They are tough clients.

It was fun.

But I was like, this is intense.

At the same time, I had the Camp Bow Wow nagging in the back of my head, I knew that was my passion.

People kept telling me, that's not the right company.

It doesn't make sense, you should do these other more practical ones.

Practical doesn't always win the day.

>> So, I have looked at this and you said before that these were sort of the tenants of the organization, could you go a little bit deeper on that?

>> You let people shine.

If that is your employees, as we build the actual first locations or eventually, our franchisees.

We were so blessed in building something where we were giving people a gift that they could do something around where they loved.

So, a lot of folks were coming around corporate America and we were like I'm so burnt out, I just want to do something that I love.

I want to hang out with dogs all day.

Teaching people how to shift from being in corporate America to owning a business and starting a franchise it is a big deal.

You kind of have to go back to basic blocking and tackling of people.

Say, all right, you been working for this corporation for a long time there's a lot of rules in red tape.

Now you will be on your own, you are part of a brand, though.

You need to understand the brand culture and how we do business and how I'm going to shake your hand.

We will have a contract, but we will have some tough conversations over the years.

This is a 20- or 30-year agreement to do business together.

This was a good way to tell them how I do business and if we could agree to these four things, then we could probably function and have a good relationship.

>> It is so interesting.

When I was reviewing the book, the central tenet is to just not take things so personally.

>> Yes, imagine that.

In today's world.

>> In today's world.

Talk a little bit about how you were able to teach and inspire that maybe even a little bit in today's world.

>> I think back to one of the things about franchising is that you've got people who want to start their own business.

They want to be an entrepreneur, but you have to follow rules.

There are rules around the franchise and the brand.

If somebody wants to go out and make a purple logo you are like, you know you -- >> Can't do this.

>> Don't take things personally would be a conversation.

Like, hey, I respect that you have some great ideas about how we should do things differently.

Part of the beauty of a franchise is that you do not have to learn all of the lessons that we've already learned.

Take it as a gift and don't take it personally that it's not that we don't like your ideas, it's just that this is how we are growing the brand, and just kind of you know, approaching it that way.

Man, it has been, it's just so in our faces right now.

Don't take things personally, that cancel culture.

Why can't we have that debate?

Why can't we agree on things without taking it personally?

It's been a passion of mine especially the University Colorado as a Regent.

I started the Free to be Coalition, which is really my attempt to get debate clubs going again.

We do not have debate clubs, really active ones.

Like that's bizarre.

I wanted to model that for kids and to teach them hey, don't take things personally.

We can disagree on some things and still be friends at the end of the day and have a beer, but it has been tough.

>> Another interesting tenet of the book is this notion that you know, your childhood you are raised just doing these traditions that you really have no of taught me over.

At some point, you have the ability to in many ways rationally think for yourself.

Talk to me a little bit about that influence on you as well.

>> Well, I had quite a variety of influencers in my life growing up.

I was the first girl born after my grandparents had four boys.

My parents had me pretty young, so I grew up with 3 very cool uncles.

Then, my aunts, all the ones that they married and then on the other side I had an aunt and uncle who were very influential in my life.

So, lots of variety, lots of very creative people, musicians, artists.

And, they were such an inspiration to me.

My whole family just encouraged me to go out and do big things.

This was almost a mandate.

You are so blessed to be born in this country, and a family that loves you.

We may not have a lot of money, but we have a lot of resources and go out there, do things big.

Educate yourself.

Find your passion.

Books were a big part of that journey whether it was my grandfather giving me a book to read or, my aunt saying hey, this book really made an impact on me.

I remember being told that reading was one of the most important things that you could do to be a good member of society.

You needed to understand people's perspectives.

In order to get different perspectives reading books or getting different points of view just going through a section and picking something that you wouldn't normally pick.

That was a great way to open your mind.

>> I love that.

There were a lot of readers, we have fewer authors, and you actually wrote a book.

Let's talk a little bit about that.

What inspired you to write the book and what is the book about?

>> The book is a "Labor of Love."

It is a letter to my daughters basically.

It is a way to create a life that you love.

It is the thought methodology that we created through some different coaches that I've had over the years and just a system that we created at Camp Bow Wow to create archetypes, to use disk and anagram but we created our own factor that's very feminine and playful.

You know, it is more about finding what your passion is.

Finding your people, surround yourself with great people.

We call it the She Factor seal team 6.

It is about giving young women some tools and resources to really hone in on what they want to do with their lives and kind of shut out the noise of the other people around them.

I didn't write it with my daughter, per se, Tori, but she influenced it.

She came home her senior year of college, she went to the University of Oregon.

She is a driven girl.

She knew what she wanted to do from the day she was born.

She comes home and she was like, I have no idea what I want to do with my life.

This was her senior year of college.

I was like what?

What do you mean?

>> Like we just paid for 4 years of college.

>> You just got a journalism degree, you had big plans.

She was like, I don't know what to do.

So we sat down and really worked through her struggle.

I gave her some tools and things that I had used in building Camp Bow Wow like a gamification.

How do you create goals and hold yourself accountable?

You know, score yourself.

Just to keep track of it.

So, I had her read the book, "Designing Your Life."

>> Of course.

>> That was one of the influences for the book.

Yes.

So, I wrote the book over probably a year.

I worked with a writer.

But I wrote a law of it.

She just helped me kind of keep me in the right direction.

>> That's amazing and you have a passage that you would like to read.

>> Yes, sure.

Okay.

"When people ask me what it was like being a woman in a startup, or a woman in business, or a woman as ACL the hundred-million-dollar company, I have to laugh.

It honestly never occurred to me that being a woman made me different or pose a challenge.

It wasn't until I was selling my company years down the road that I realized I was the only woman in the room when the investment bankers rolled in.

Being a woman in business was never my story.

My story was that I was scrappy, I was born to young parents.

When I entered the world, they were working hard to get by.

My dad was working 3 jobs around then.

He later became a cop.

My mom stayed home with us until later in life when she worked her way up to a leadership position in our town.

They taught me to never take my opportunities for granted.

I was driven and ready to change the world right out of high school."

>> That's amazing.

So, your success as a female entrepreneur and you been successful for quite some time.

What was the role in books?

That helped to lead to your successes.

We talk about it a lot now.

If you go back 15 or 20 years ago, there was not the same focus on female empowerment and ensuring that women were in CEO roles and board seats etc.

Did books and literature help you through that?

>> Yes.

It was more like finding great leaders and mentors.

Like I said, I didn't think of it as women.

But I did follow, I think Sarah Blakely is awesome.

She founded Spanx.

>> Of course.

>> She Factors one of her red backpack recipients, so we are very proud of that.

And other great leaders that I grabbed onto.

I read or watched a lot of Oprah and her leadership style a lot.

It was more that women leaders have a different way about them.

They are a little bit more focused on emotion and connecting with people than just here's the job and here is what we have to do.

That's probably the biggest distinction that I noticed.

I would search out woman leaders to really tap into that part of who I was as a leader.

Not necessarily because they were a woman, but because that is how they roll.

>> It is so interesting.

Do you now view yourself as more of a mentor?

>> Yes, after writing the book, and really rolling out this program and chapters around the country, to help young women create a life that they love.

I so love inspiring and being just someone that women can bounce things off of.

Especially, young women.

My role as a Regent, as a mom, I just think it is a crazy time right now.

People are being put into boxes.

People are feeling very constricted about who they can be, what they can be.

That's ironic because what we are trying to do is be more open and let people be who they are.

I think that the opposite is happening in some cases especially with young women, they are almost paralyzed because there are such big expectations put on them right now.

It is just like, get back to blocking and tackling.

Think about what you want to do.

Be fearless it's okay to fail.

Look at how many jobs and careers I have had but at the end of the day we are on this crazy adventure called life.

I just love being someone who can share my story and share my ups and downs.

To say to the young women, don't worry.

Everything is going to be okay.

Be fearless, learn along the way.

My first husband who passed away his favorite saying was carpe diem.

You know, seize the day.

That is the theme of She Factor.

It's kind of the theme of the Four Agreements.

It's just how you kind of go into life and if you keep these as guardrails, you're going to be good.

That's how I deal with politics too.

We have a very short time here.

I didn't want to wake up in 5 or 10 years and think, I could've made a difference in didn't in this really difficult time we are facing some terrible issues.

It means a lot to me to be in this place at this moment in time and be able to make an impact.

>> And She Factor, you are running to be the first female governor of the state of Colorado, which would be an amazing!

On this.

>> Thank you.

I like to say the first mom in the governor's mansion.

It will be messy dogs, kids, barbecue.

>> Heidi, thank you so much for being on our Leaders and Readers program.

>> Thank you so much for having me.

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