Butter, Bullshit, and Building a Billion-Dollar Brand with Lindsay Brady

May 19

There is a kind of ambition that works brilliantly until it does not.

It gets results, earns promotions, builds impressive resumes. And then one day, you look up and realize you have been so focused on winning that you forgot to ask what you were actually winning for.

Lindsay Brady knows this story from the inside. She has spent more than two decades in food, ConAgra, Campbell Soup, Tyson Foods, General Mills, Heinz, building massive brands and leading large teams. Before joining Ornua, she ran a billion-dollar portfolio. Today, she is the President of Ornua Foods North America, the company behind Kerrygold butter and cheese, guiding one of the most loved dairy brands through its next growth chapter across the Americas.

I have known Lindsay for a long time. We went to business school together. Getting to sit down with her for this conversation was something I had been looking forward to. Because beneath the resume and the role, there is a story about what it actually takes to build a career that is both successful and deeply fulfilling. And spoiler: it required some real reckoning.

In This Episode, We Talk About:

How winning became a fear-based driver, rooted in a twin upbringing, a competitive family, and a company that managed out the bottom 10% of its MBA class
The mentor at Campbell Soup who invested in her, read The 7 Habits with her chapter by chapter, and called her bullshit as needed
The crucible moment at 30 when she realized she was winning at work and losing at most everything else
What abundance mentality actually looks like when competition is wired into your bones
The systems and rituals that helped her build the happy and healthy chapter she is living now
Why purpose is what gets you out of bed on a Wednesday when you are sick and your body says stay home

My Key Takeaways from this conversation with Lindsay Brady:

1. Winning is fine. Fear-based winning is a trap.

Lindsay grew up in a house where a 93 on a test was met with "your twin got a 99." That creates drive, no question. But it also wires you to define yourself through comparison and performance. For much of her career, not winning was not just disappointing, it felt dangerous. Recognizing that distinction, and learning to compete from a healthier place, was some of the most important work she has done.

2. A good mentor does not just support you. They call your bullshit.

The mentor relationship Lindsay described with Chris at Campbell Soup is the kind most leaders do not have and desperately need. They read The 7 Habits together, chapter by chapter. He pushed her to begin with the end in mind, to get real about what she actually wanted versus what she had been conditioned to want. He told her: if you are not real with me, you are going to stay in a cycle of unhappiness. It is moments like this where coaching and mentorship creates true transformation.

3. The wake-up at 30 is real, and it is a gift.

Lindsay hit 30, looked around, and realized she had prioritized work so completely that she had let other things she cared about fall apart. It stung, but it also started the journey.

4. Empathy is not softness. It is a leadership upgrade.

One of the most moving parts of our conversation was Lindsay talking about the transformation her mentor saw in her: becoming more human. More empathetic. She laughed it off at first, then got emotional when she traced back what it actually meant. The intensity, the results orientation, the unintended impact on people around her that she had not fully seen. That shift from performance to genuine care for her team is what makes her the leader she is today.

5. Purpose is what shows up when motivation cannot.

Lindsay described showing up for her team on a Tuesday when she was sick, when every physical signal said stay home. What got her there was not discipline. It was that her work meant something. She is working for 14,000 Irish dairy farmers who own the cooperative. She is working for a team she deeply believes in. That is what purpose actually does. It carries you when willpower runs out.

Whether you are a founder, a senior executive, or someone in the middle of a career that looks great from the outside and feels a little hollow from the inside, I think this conversation has something for you.