College Experiences That Helped a Co-founder and CEO at Caffe Luxxe Succeed
Mark's college experience provided a crucial lesson in humility, shifting perspective from a "big fish in a small pond" to understanding the need for continuous improvement to compete amongst high-achieving peers. This experience fostered a mindset of self-improvement, a key factor in their subsequent career success as Co-founder and President/CEO of Caffe Luxxe.
Humility, Competition, Self-Improvement, Adaptability, Overcoming Challenges
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Mark Wain
Co-founder and President / CEO
Caffe Luxxe
UC Berkeley
University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business MBA
Economics
Food, Beverages & Alcohol, Hospitality, Restaurants & Events
Strategic Management and Executive
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Develop Humility: Recognize that there will always be others who are equally or more skilled. College provides a chance to learn from those around you and improve yourself.
2. Embrace Competition: Use the competitive college environment to push yourself to grow and be the best version of yourself.
3. Seek out challenging experiences: College is the ideal environment to test your skills against those of others in a supportive environment.
Transcript
What did you do in undergrad to set you up for success in your career?
I'm not going to take credit for this necessarily. It's just what happened to me.
I learned humility as a high-performing high schooler. I thought I was the bomb, a big fish in my small high school pond.
Then I went to college and was surrounded by others who were also big fishes from their own parts. This was a great equalizer for me.
It showed me I wasn't as good as I thought I was. I realized I needed to do certain things to compete and be the best version of myself.