The landscape of the business world is changing for the better and to help people prioritize family, personal life, and passion. Not only do these changes make for better employees, but they also improve the overall quality of their lives. Today’s guest is an incredible entrepreneur whose mission is to help other business leaders lead with purpose! Meghan French Dunbar joins us today to discuss her impressive career, the book she’s just written, self-care, and so much more!

Join us as we delve into the power of women in the workplace, even touching on the often feared ‘P’ word (patriarchy), and discuss what men can learn from female leaders in business. We go on to talk about how workplace culture is evolving with younger generations before Meghan shares her suggestions for helping people be more vulnerable in group networking settings. Meghan even tells us what to expect from her in the near future. Finally, our guest tells us where to find her online. To hear all this and even be reminded of the power and importance of listening, be sure to tune in now!
Guest Bio:
Meghan French Dunbar is a purpose-driven business leader and the founder of Conscious Company Magazine. She launched the magazine in 2015 with the mission of highlighting businesses that make a positive impact. After navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, including burnout, she sold the company in 2017 and served as CEO until 2020. Meghan now leads Tide Turn Labs (formerly Women Led), a community for purpose-driven business leaders, co-founded Stakeholder Business, and has written her first book, This Isn’t Working, set for release in August 2025.

Key Points From This Episode:

• [00:19] A quick catch-up with Mike and Laura and what their holiday plans are.
• [09:15] Welcoming Meghan French Dunbar to the show and a bit about what she does.
• [11:14] Meghan tells us about what led her to start her business magazine.
• [15:35] A breakdown of her book and what inspired her to write it.
• [21:09] How Meghan takes care of herself in between creating her work.
• [29:21] What women bring to leadership, how men can learn from them, and the dangers of patriarchy.
• [42:01] How the landscape of workplace culture is evolving with younger generations.
• [46:36] Where to pre-order Meghan’s book and what’s next for her career.
• [51:02] Meghan shares some suggestions for helping people open up at group networking events.
• [59:33] Where listeners can interact with Meghan online.
• [01:02:52] Some key takeaways from today’s conversation.

Quotes:

“We feel like we don’t have permission in society to, like, take time off and be with our families and like, do these sorts of things, and sometimes, when one person does them, then someone else feels like it’s okay to do them.” — Meghan French Dunbar [0:26:09]

“[Women] have to learn how to express all of the traits that men have been brought up to express. So, we learn how to. – We speak masculine traits and feminine traits, which in reality is just human traits – that we all should have learned how to express in the beginning.” — Meghan French Dunbar [0:32:29]

“The number one predictor of longevity in human life is social connections, meaningful, deep, rich social connections.” — Meghan French Dunbar [0:52:24]

RESOURCES:

• [12:42] Conscious Company Media on LinkedIn
• [46:37]Preorder This Isn’t Working
• [47:18] Tide Turn Labs
• [52:21] Harvard Longitudinal Study
• [57:20] Susan Griffin-Black on LinkedIn
• [59:41] Stakeholder Business

FOLLOW:

Follow Meghan French Dunbar:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
  

FOLLOW:

Follow Laura Eich:

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Follow Mike McFall:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• X
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Follow BIGGBY® COFFEE & LifeLabTM:

• Website
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• About LifeLabTM
  

ABOUT LOVE IN LEADERSHIP:

At the Life You Love LaboratoryTM and BIGGBY® COFFEE, we’re out to prove that financial success and healthy workplace culture aren’t two separate goals. BIGGBY® COFFEE's own cultural transformation is proof that not only is it possible to have a successful company where people aren’t miserable at work, but that the happier your people are, the more your business will grow. Each week, join host Laura Eich, Chief Purpose Officer at BIGGBY® COFFEE, and her co-host and BIGGBY® COFFEE co-CEO Mike McFall as they’re joined by guests from around the world to learn how they are fostering a culture of love and growth in the world’s most innovative and people-centric companies. Get inspired. Get real. Get ready to transform workplace culture in America with us. This is the Love in Leadership podcast.

Learn more at: loveinleadershippodcast.com
ABOUT THE HOSTS:

Mike McFall began his journey with BIGGBY® COFFEE as a minimum-wage barista at the original store in East Lansing in 1996. Over the span of 23 years, alongside business partner Bob Fish, he has helped create one of the great specialty coffee brands in America. Today Mike is co-CEO with Bob, and BIGGBY® COFFEE has over 250 stores open throughout the Midwest that sell tens of thousands of cups of coffee each day. But more importantly to Mike and BIGGBY® COFFEE, the company is a profoundly people-first organization.

Mike is also the author of Grind, a book which focuses on early-stage businesses and how to establish positive cash flow.

Laura Eich is BIGGBY® COFFEE’s Chief People Officer, having worked in a variety of roles at BIGGBY® COFFEE for the last 11+ years. She helped launch BOOST, the department at BIGGBY® COFFEE which ultimately became LifeLabTM — BIGGBY® COFFEE’s in-house culture cultivation team designed to help people be the best versions of themselves and help companies support them along the way. In her role, Laura helps people build lives that they love through the process of building profitable businesses and robust, growth-filled careers.