Former Jamba Juice CEO on Building a Culture for Success

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Businessweek

Episode: Former Jamba Juice CEO on Building a Culture for Success

Date: December 9, 2025
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec
Guest: James D. White, Former CEO of Jamba Juice, Chairman of The Honest Company, Co-Founder/CEO of Culture Design Lab, Co-author of “Culture Design: How to Build a High-Performing, Resilient Organization with Purpose”

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Overview

This episode features an insightful interview with James D. White, the former CEO of Jamba Juice. The discussion centers around the critical role of culture in organizational success, lessons learned from leading Jamba Juice through transformation, and how leaders can intentionally design workplace culture for resilience and high performance. The conversation also touches on evolving perspectives in leadership, diversity, and the importance of human-centric workplaces.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Jamba Juice Transformation

• Jamba Juice Origin Story:
  • Started as “Juice Club” in San Luis Obispo, California ([02:07])
  • White joined in December 2008 and led a substantial turnaround and rebranding ([03:52])
• White’s Tenure Highlights:
  • “I joined Jamba in December 2008 and led the company through a turnaround and transformation. … Market cap over my tenure increased by 500%. We really repositioned the company from a smoothie chain to a more healthy lifestyle brand, but had a great run…” – James D. White ([03:52])
• Strategic Shift:
  • Repositioned from just smoothies to holistic healthy living
  • Focus on transformation during challenges and the shift to private ownership

Building Culture: People First

• The Stakeholder Approach:
  • “You start with the people, you start with the key stakeholders. … For me, as I go back to that first week, we asked four simple questions: What should the organization start doing? What should we stop doing? And what are the things that are working well that we should continue? And then the final bonus question is what advice would you have for me as CEO?” – James D. White ([04:42])
  • Employees are the primary source for real insights on necessary changes ([05:50])
  • Engaged with board, suppliers, and consumers to build comprehensive understanding ([05:59])
• Role of Employees:
  • “I always start with the employees because they actually know what actually needs to be done to … reenergize or strengthen the company.” ([05:50])

Connecting Culture to Performance

• Tangible & Intangible Metrics:
  • “The way I think about it is, and I've got a colleague of mine, a board colleague of mine that says the human capital drives the financial capital and that directly relates to the people and relates to the company culture.” – James D. White ([07:08])
  • Emphasis on measuring both hard (financial) and soft (employee engagement, NPS) culture metrics ([08:27])
  • “Anything in business that matters, you actually measure it ... there are both hard and soft measurements, employee engagement, there’s poll surveys. There’s net promoter scores, but there’s employee net promoter scores that are … incredibly helpful.” ([08:27])

Culture by Design vs. Default

• Intentional Leadership:
  • “The thesis of our book is companies have culture by design or default. So always be intentional in building a company’s culture.” – James D. White ([05:32])
• Three Pillars of Culture Design (from the book):
  • Knowing what matters — understanding company context ([07:21])
  • Doing what matters — operationalizing culture in daily practice ([07:21])
  • Measuring what matters — using both quantitative and qualitative metrics ([07:21])

Leadership Transparency, Empathy, and Humanity

• Learning from the Next Generation:
  • Discussion of co-authoring with his daughter Krista; her influence on leadership transparency ([08:42])
  • “We think that empathy is really a core capability. And one of the things that I've learned in my work with my millennial daughter is … kind of sharing more of myself really strengthens the ability for me to connect with leaders and people on a really different level.” – James D. White ([09:32])
• Leadership Practice Example:
  • Reference to Sam Bright (Google Play), who provides a “user manual” to his teams—sharing personal background helps team members collaborate more effectively ([10:46])

DEI and Anti-Racism: Principles Over Labels

• Evolving Context:
  • Noted the shifting landscape of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) in corporate America ([11:15])
  • “But I think the best leaders…they’ve got a true north. They’re very focused on their values and they know that if you put people first and you create an environment where all the humans get to do their best work, you’re going to always win.” – James D. White ([11:35])
• Advice to Companies:
  • Less concerned with specific DEI terminology, more concerned about adherence to purpose and building inclusive environments ([11:35])

Final Leadership Advice

• White’s Core Message to Leaders:
  • “Really put the human beings, the people in your organization first and work hard to create and design environments where they can do their very best work and bring their full selves to the organization. And I think it will yield great benefits that will deliver high performance results.” – James D. White ([12:35])

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Notable Quotes

• “Companies have culture by design or default. So always be intentional in building a company’s culture.” (James D. White, 05:32)
• “The human capital drives the financial capital and that directly relates to the people and relates to the company culture.” (James D. White, 07:08)
• “Empathy is really a core capability. … When we get to know each other as human beings, we can find the things that are common. And what I found from a leadership perspective is that allows you to unlock the full potential of the organization by being more human and kind of humanizing the leader.” (James D. White, 09:32)
• “If you put people first and you create an environment where all the humans get to do their best work, you’re going to always win.” (James D. White, 11:35)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 02:07 | Origin story of Jamba Juice | | 03:52 | White’s overview of Jamba Juice transformation | | 04:42 | First-week strategy: question stakeholders | | 05:50 | Primary role of employees and other stakeholders | | 07:08 | Culture, human capital, and performance connection | | 08:27 | Measuring culture: engagement and NPS | | 09:32 | Empathy & transparency in leadership | | 10:46 | Leadership “user manuals” example | | 11:35 | Evolving views on DEI, advice for leaders | | 12:35 | Final advice for leaders |

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Tone and Style

The conversation was warm, reflective, and practical, favoring real-world examples and actionable frameworks. James D. White’s approach emphasizes empathy, intentionality, and a people-centric philosophy. The hosts, Carol and Tim, kept the discussion grounded with relatable anecdotes and thoughtful follow-up questions.

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In Summary

This episode offers actionable insights on leading organizational change through culture, practical wisdom for leaders, and a timely reminder that putting people first is both a prudent business strategy and an ethical imperative. White’s emphasis on intentional culture design, transparency, and empathic leadership marks a progressive blueprint for modern companies seeking resilience and high performance.

Transcript

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[Carol Massar]

News. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar and Tim Stanvik on Bloomberg Radio. Carol, you know, I'm from this small town on the central coast of.

[Tim Stanvik]

California. Wait, you're from.

[Carol Massar]

California? Yeah. It's known for a few things. We've got the last operating nuclear power plant in the.

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[Carol Massar]

Do? That's why I'm.

[Tim Stanvik]

Glowing.

[Carol Massar]

Yes. Hearst Castle is right.

[Tim Stanvik]

There. Oh, it is, right. Yeah, I forgot about.

[Carol Massar]

That. Also, there's this little smoothie shop. When I was growing up, it was called Juice Club. Ah. And for special treats after school, I would get to go to Juice Club. My parents would take me there, or a babysitter would take us.

[Tim Stanvik]

There. Sounds like you loved.

[Carol Massar]

It. Yeah. It was started by this guy who went to Cal Poly, and Juice Club is what Jamba Juice was before they did a rebrand, did an ipo, and became the company that it's known for.

[Tim Stanvik]

Now. I love.

[Carol Massar]

That. So Jamba Juice.

[Tim Stanvik]

Is. It.

[Carol Massar]

Began. It began as Juice Club on, like, you know, on Foothill. James D. White knows all about this. He's former CEO of Jamba Juice. He led it from 2008 to 2016. He's also the author of several books. His new book out this month along with Krista White called Culture Design how to Build a High Performing Resilient Organization with Purpose. He's also the chairman of the board of the Honest Company. He's co founder, chairman and CEO of Culture Design Lab. He's the and a board member at the fast casual chain Kava. He joins us from Scottsdale, Arizona. Good to have you on the program. James, how are.

[James D. White]

You? Tim and Carol, thanks for hosting.

[Carol Massar]

Me. When you were CEO of Jamba, did you ever get to go to that foothill location in San Luis.

[James D. White]

Obispo?

[Carol Massar]

Absolutely. The original. That was the one. Okay, that's.

[James D. White]

Amazing. And got to spend time with Kirk Pair and the fantastic founder who we lost a few years.

[Carol Massar]

Ago. Yeah, very tragic. Well, I want to talk a little bit about Culture Design, how to build a High Performing Resilient Organization with purpose. But first, I just want to remind everybody about what Jamba Juice was when you were leading it from 2008 to 2016. It's now owned by a private equity firm, but it did have a life as a publicly traded company. What was Jamba Juice under your.

[James D. White]

Tenure? Well, I joined Jamba in December 2008 and led the company through a turnaround and transformation.

We're a public company. Market cap over my tenure increased by 500%. We really repositioned the company from a smoothie, chained a more healthy lifestyle brand, but had a great run, you know, 28/4 as a public company.

[Tim Stanvik]

CEO.

So tell us about, like going through your experiences and kind of what you learned in terms of running a company, building a company, going through different cycles, what that has taught.

[James D. White]

You. I think for me, the place I always start and I just go back to really my first week on the job at Jamba is you start with the people, you start with the key stakeholders. And you know, for me, as I go back to that first week, we asked, you know, four simple questions. What should the organization start doing? What should we stop doing? And what are the things that are working well that we should continue? And then the final bonus question is what advice which you have for me as CEO? And we really leverage that approach with really all of our stakeholder groups and use that to build a plan to turn around and transform the company. But I always start with people first. The thesis of our book is companies have culture by design or default. So always be intentional in building a company's.

[Carol Massar]

Culture. So talk about who those key stakeholders are. And then I have this, this follow up question that I think Carol Will nod because she kind of knows exactly where I'm going. When you, when you start it, when you start on a board or when you're, you know, a decision maker at a company, who are the stakeholders you speak to to understand the.

[James D. White]

Culture? Yeah, I always start with the employees because they actually know.

What actually needs to be done to, you know, really re energize or strengthen the company. So I started with the hundred or so employees that were in our support center that supported all our stores. Obviously the frontline workforce is a source of fantastic input. The board of directors, key suppliers, but also we talk to consumers as a part of that process as we formulated the original transformation plan at.

[Carol Massar]

Jamba. So connect that with company performance because every, you know, and zoom just reported earnings, for example. And when we look at any company that reports its most recent quarter, we talk about numbers like the outlook, we talk about top line revenue, we talk about margins, we talk about outlooks or we talk about what happened in the current quarter. What we don't talk about is the company's culture. We don't talk about how happy employees are or if they're not happy. We don't talk about customer satisfaction because investors don't necessarily trade on those things. How do you connect those non tangibles to the actual numbers that a public company.

[James D. White]

Reports? Yeah, the way I think about it is, and I've got a colleague of mine, a board colleague of mine that says the human capital drives the financial capital and that directly relates to.

The people and relates to the company culture. We think about culture being the huge unlock in this environment. And the reason we wrote the book Culture Design is we felt like with the dramatic change over the course of the last five years, the thing that we've not talked about as much as we need to as we look at hybrid work, the influences of AI is the company culture and how that shift needs to happen. The best companies become change savvy in terms of how they lead the companies moving forward. And the book has three pillars. Knowing what matters, that's really about the context that the company operates in, doing what matters. How do you operationalize culture? How does culture really live day to day inside an organization? And then anything in business that matters, you actually measure it in the, you know, there are both hard and soft measurements, you know, employee engagement, there's poll surveys.

There'S net promoter scores, but there's employee net promoter scores that are one of the things that I find incredibly helpful. But the best leaders are thinking harder about this, whether they're in the boardroom or running companies.

[Tim Stanvik]

Today. Hey, James, one thing I want to ask you, and I'm just curious. You wrote this with your daughter Krista. And I was just looking at one thing in. I think it's page 96 here and how she has kind of taught you that an effective leader actually shares a lot of their life journey, is a lot more transparent with folks at work. And it's interesting. Like I've often heard people like, your personal life is your personal life. Don't bring it to the office, Keep them separate. Like, you just don't share stuff. And yet you know your lifeline is in there and like all the things that you've gone through in your life. And I'm just the importance of like leaders and leadership sharing their life journey with the folks that work with.

[James D. White]

Them.

We think that empathy is really a core capability. And one of the things that I've learned in my work with my millennial daughter is.

Kind of sharing more of myself really strengthens the ability for me to connect with leaders and people on a really different level. This is not really where I started as a leader, but have learned this over the arc of a career. And it's really a force multiplier. When we get to know each other as human beings, we can find the things that are common. And what I found from a leadership perspective is that allows you to unlock the full potential of the organization by being more human and kind of humanizing the leader. We interviewed one leader that describes his version of this as he provides new teams that he joined. Sam Bright, he runs Google Play. He describes a user manual on how to best work with him as a leader. And he does some of the same kinds of things where he shares information on his family and background, which is really a shortcut to how we might work best together as his.

[Carol Massar]

Colleagues. James, before we let you go, you've written this is not your first book that you've written along with your daughter Krista. Back in 2022, you wrote anti Racist Leadership how to Transform Corporate Cult in a Race Conscious World. We spent a lot of time. Carol and I have been doing this together for five years. And over that period of time, the conversation around DEI has changed a lot to most recently, the iteration is these companies getting rid of DEI programs, not talking about it.

[Tim Stanvik]

Anymore. So they're not being a conversation around.

[Carol Massar]

It. Yeah, I mean we're talking, we're doing a deep dive on target in just a few minutes. And they've gone through their own issues with this. I'm just Wondering what the state of you of, of how you view DEI and anti racism now in 2025 and how that's different among C suite executives versus.

[James D. White]

2022. Yes, I think the conversation has definitely changed. But I think the best leaders, at least the best leaders that I work with, they've got a true north. They're very focused on their values and they know that if you put people first and you create an environment where all the humans get to do their best work, you're going to always win. And what I always advise companies and the leaders that I work with, the labeling of things, I'm less concerned with. I'm more concerned with really the true north of the organization and how we focused on creating environments where everybody can do their very best work. And that starts with people and it starts with culture by.

[Tim Stanvik]

Design. I would assume that then that is like if you had to give one piece of advice to leaders that are out there and they get so much advice. But I'm just curious, is that what it would be or something else and just got about 40 seconds.

[James D. White]

Here. It would be, you know, really put the human beings, the people in your organization first and work hard to create and design environments where they can do their very best work and bring their full selves to the organization. And I think it will yield great benefits that will deliver high performance.

[Tim Stanvik]

Results. Well, very much appreciate it James. Thank you so much. James D. White, former CEO of Jamba Juice. He led the company from 2008 to 2016. He is the co author of a book that he did with his daughter. Second book that he did with his daughter. This book though Culture Design how to build a high Performing Resilient organization with purpose. And and you can catch that book, it is out now. James, thank you so.

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