Welcome to our annual EO/ESOP Podcast Summer School series. We selected some of our favorite episodes over the past year for your enjoyment while we spend the rest of our summer catching our breath and working on launching our exciting Season 7, beginning in September 2023.
In this episode, Bret Keisling was joined by Patty Civalleri, co-author of Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys, a great book about Joe Coulombe and the growth of Trader Joe's, which was the first grocer in the US to sell extra-large eggs, brie, and numerous wines and spirits among his many innovations.
Patty shares his four pillars of differentiation: pricing, packaging, ingredients, and uniqueness. She describes how Coulombe believed in his employees by offering profit sharing and an early form of employee ownership. They also discuss Trader Joe's brush with becoming an ESOP in the late 1970s.
Patty then talks about her travel books on Rome, Florence, and Venice. Her guides are the ultimate resource to escape the crowds and deep dive into the land that birthed stunning art, history and legends. The guides are jam-packed with backstories, vignettes, anecdotes, and bite-sized nuggets of history. They are skillfully organized (even color-coded!) to connect the dots giving readers hundreds of exciting 'Aha' moments every day. Readers will be privy to all the best ancient and underground sites, while getting the backstories of the most interesting influencers in history that connect you directly to the sites you're visiting.
Listen to this episode on Soundcloud or subscribe on Google,iHeart,Spotify, Amazon, or Apple Podcasts...
... or watch the video below.
The ESOP Podcast is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License.
The body of this episode originally aired on May 30, 2023, as Episode 247: Patty Civalleri, Co-author of "Becoming Trader Joe."
ESOP Summer School 31 Show Notes
You can find Patty Civalleri on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram @pattycivalleri, Twitter @PCivalleri, and on her website pattycivalleri.com.
You can get Becoming Trader Joe here from employee-owned Raven Book Store. [Note: We are not affiliated with Raven Bookstore, we just always want to encourage everyone to shop employee owned!]
Bret reviewed Becoming Trader Joe in Mini-cast 219: Trader Joe's - Almost An ESOP.
Here are examples of the on Rome, Florence, and Venice travel spinner boards mentioned in the podcast.
About Patty Civalleri
In her own words, from her website pattycivalleri.com:
"Two decades of traveling the world in the context of archaeology made me really good at two things: history and travel. Combining those two things with my existing skills - writing and photography - created the perfect background needed to create a line of travel books and accessories.
During those twenty years, I became very focused (picky!) about all of the details that go into making, taking, and enjoying a trip. Much of that was about what I didn't want, and what took away from the enjoyment. Over-crowding was at the top of the list.
I know we have all been taught to 'herd' travel by clumping around the top 10 sites in every location, but there truly had to be another way to travel. And I understand that a lack of money and/or time encourages speed travel. But that wasn't for me either.
So I created an entirely new way of looking at travel that enables you to go as deep as you want, at the speed you like, and fill every minute of your stay with the real Italian cities and their history that has influenced the world we live in today."
We'd love to hear from you! To contact us, find us on Facebook at EO Podcast Network and on Twitter @ESOPPodcast. To reach Bret, email Bret@KEISOP.com or find him on LinkedIn at Bret Keisling; he is active on Twitter @EO_Bret. This podcast has been produced by Bret Keisling for the EO Podcast Network, original music composed by Max Keisling, branding and marketing by BitsyPlus Design.
Standard Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are my own and don't represent those of my own firms or the organizations to which I belong. Nothing in the podcast should be construed as guidance or advice of any kind in any field and the fact that I mentioned an organizational website or an advocate or a company on a podcast does not reflect an endorsement, but if you've heard your name or your group's name mentioned on this podcast, I'd love to have you come on and talk about it yourself.