In the months that followed, my prescribed rehabilitation program enabled me to slowly move from using a walker to crutches to eventually walking with the aid of two canes. I was often in pain and per the doctor’s prognosis, doubted if I would ever get any better.  

One afternoon, my three-year-old daughter, Taryn, asked if I wanted to race her up the hill of our driveway to the mailbox. Though I was using two canes, I readily agreed to her challenge. But when I took off to run, I realized that I could not do it. The pain in my legs was excruciating.  

It was the first time since my accident that I realized that I was disabled.

I was devastated. It was the first time since my accident that I realized that I was disabled—not so much in my legs, but in my mind. The doctors’ prognosis that I would never walk again without help had become a safety zone—something I had just accepted. This was partly because learning to walk again hurt; it was also because I was afraid of what might happen if I failed. So instead of fighting, I surrendered.   

“Today, it begins. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m going to do it inch by inch.”  

The incident in the driveway became a defining moment in my life. That day, I wrote in my planner: “Today, it begins. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m going to do it inch by inch.”  

The goal at the beginning of my new, self-prescribed rehabilitation program was simple. I wanted to restore some flexibility, range of motion, and strength to my legs. So I rode a stationary bicycle. I put the seat up as high as it would go, because I could barely bend my legs to make a full revolution. At first I barely did two minutes before exhausting myself. I tried to extend it by a minute or two each day. After a month I did a half an hour, increasing the speed as well. After about three months, I lowered the seat and completely bent my legs.   

By the fall, five months into my regimen, I was tired of being indoors. I found my old yellow Schwinn Continental in the garage covered in dust.  I used the bicycle for support, pulled myself on and began to pedal. It was easier than I had remembered, mostly because I was pedaling downhill. I made it to the end of my street and still felt great. I pedaled on. I flew down another steep hill and remember feeling as if nothing could stop me. That is, of course, when I encountered my first uphill climb. Momentum from the downhill helped me get about halfway up the hill. But I did not have enough strength to get to the top. I remember saying out loud to myself, “Okay, Coles, you wanted a new challenge. Well, here’s your chance.” I turned the bike around and tried again. After half a dozen tries, I realized that I was not going to make it. Exhausted and sweaty, I got off the bike and pushed it home. 

I would not be defeated.

Every day, I took out that old Schwinn and tried again. After two weeks, I finally made it up the hill.  

Over the next two years, I gradually increased the length of my rides, often with Taryn in a child’s seat strapped on the back. In 1982, long bike rides took on a new meaning when I broke the world record for cycling across America from Savannah to San Diego. I attempted the record again in 1983 and failed to finish the race. In a dust devil, only 488 miles from San Diego, I was blown from my bike and broke my collarbone. Again, I turned to my bicycle to support my recovery. In 1984, I broke the world record again.  

A bicycle saved my life.  

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In 1998, I ran for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, and I made many friends in the military. During my campaign, I visited with a U.S. Army general. He handed me a pamphlet which read, “Promises Made, Promises Not Kept.” The document was about how veterans had been let down by the government, in education, health care and housing. I will never forget it.  

The Michael J. and Donna N. Coles Veterans Scholarship Endowment Fund

My interaction with the Army general made an impact on my life, and I am committed to supporting veterans where I can. So, in March of this year, my wife Donna and I established The Michael J. and Donna N. Coles Veterans Scholarship Endowment Fund at Kennesaw State University to help lessen the financial burden for veterans who have exhausted their GI Bill benefits before completing their degrees.  

I believe that getting an education is of paramount importance. My hope is to expand our $1 million scholarship fund to $3 to $5 million over the next decade by encouraging other families or organizations to contribute. Kennesaw State has been a longtime supporter of veterans. The school currently has more than 1,400 students who are veterans, service members, or their dependents.  

This Fund is our way of honoring the sacrifice of military veterans and providing some support as they pursue their educational dreams at KSU. My hope is that this will offer some help for a better life.  

To all those serving or who have served in the U.S. Military – thank you.  

https://mvs.kennesaw.edu/give.php.

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— Milton Berle (1908–2002), after Robert W. Chambers (1865–1933) 

This month, I honor and celebrate the graduating class of 2021, especially the students of Kennesaw State University’s Michael J. Coles College of Business. Congratulations on your achievement! 

With your degree in hand, I’m sure you are looking towards the future. So, in the spirit of commencement speeches, I’d like to share some advice I once received at the start of my career.  

On a flight home to Detroit, at age 23, I sat beside a successful businessman who specialized in mergers and acquisitions. Seeking advice, I asked if he might have any to share. He looked at me and said ‘it’s all about taking risks. The younger you are, the easier it is. If you wait too long, life gets complicated and risks become scarier. Don’t be afraid to take risks, and don’t be afraid to fail.’ 

You have to recognize that failure and success run hand and hand. There’s more to learn from things that go wrong than from things that go right. My journey to success was not a straight line, but rather a story of personal perseverance. So as you endeavor to confront whatever the future holds, dig deep and strive to be a “could-be”, an “are”, and a “has-been”. 

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“If you are going through hell, keep going.”

In 1982, I set a new world record, biking from Savannah to San Diego in just 15 days. I was out to prove something! Five years before the 1982 race, I was nearly killed in a motorcycle accident. I was told by my doctor that I would never walk again without help. At first, I surrendered to this prognosis, riddled with pain and doubt. However, I came to realize that my disability was not so much in my legs, but in my mind. Cycling became my road to full recovery and I wanted to use the race to show anyone that they could accomplish their goals. I hoped my story would be a source of inspiration, proving that you could go from being on crutches to riding a bicycle across the country. I wanted to prove the truth of the famous utterance by Winston Churchill, “If you are going through hell, keep going.”  

I knew I could beat my original time. I tried in 1983 and I was on a pace to break my record, when a desert whirlwind called a dust devil threw me from my bike. I broke my collar bone, just 380 miles short of my goal. In May of 1984, I returned to Savannah for a final attempt. The streets were lined with supporters as I began the race – our documentary film crew, five television stations, many of our friends, and hundreds of strangers. It was easy to get caught up in the excitement with all that adrenaline pumping. The film shows me leaving the courthouse with one of my mechanics singing Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” But I wasn’t a block into the race when it hit me what lay ahead. Another song, Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind,” started playing in my head. There’s a line in the song, “Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then,” that seemed apropos of the moment.   

For the first few days, I fought aggressive winds between 30 and 40 mph. I had three states behind me and five ahead. My body was showing the effects of the struggle against the wind. The pressure I had to put on the pedals made my feet swell so much that I had to cut open my shoes. My neck hurt, and my hands were so numb that I had to shake them every few minutes to get the blood flowing again. By this point, I looked forward to only two things: eating and sleeping.  

State by state, city by city, mile by mile, and inch by inch

The headwinds were relentless, and I battled them for all but 12 of the 2,600 miles across the country. Facing that kind of challenge changed my perspective on everything. State by state, city by city, mile by mile, and inch by inch, I had to fight my way toward California. That focused intensity gave me a kind of clarity that I had never experienced before. I remember the exact moment when I realized that good enough was neither good nor enough.  

I arrived in San Diego on May 15 at 5:15 p.m. PST. In the final hours of the race, I endured stop-and-go traffic. I had no idea how exhausted I was until I was forced to stop. As long as I was moving, I could not feel the full extent of the pain. I had lost seven pounds in the last three hours of the race, because my body was just breaking down. We finally made a right turn onto West Broadway, and I could see that the street was lined with people. My adrenaline was pumping. This was the best, if also the most painful, part of the journey. In that moment, I knew several things with absolute certainty. I would finish this race. Being forced to dig deeper than I ever had before, I discovered who I really was. No situation that I would face from here forward would ever look as difficult.  

I finished the race 11 days, eight hours, and 15 minutes after leaving Savannah, setting a new world record. I slept a total of 22 hours, or less than two hours a day. At the age of 40, I broke my own record by more than four days and again became the fastest person to cross the southern United States on a bicycle. As I lifted my bike into the air on the courthouse steps, it started to sink in – nothing would ever be the same.  

That night, my wife Donna and I hosted a big dinner at our hotel to thank everyone for their help. It was the first real meal that I had had in more than 11 days. I ordered my favorite dish, abalone, a real California delicacy. It was delicious, but I was so tired that I actually fell asleep in my food; I could not muster enough energy to keep my head up and eat. After saying goodbye to everyone, Donna and I went up to our room to get our first good night’s sleep. On the nightstand before climbing into bed, I lined up half a dozen unwrapped Snickers bars so I could just grab them and eat them anytime I awakened. That night, even with the candy bars, I lost an additional five pounds because my body was still breaking down and burning so many calories from the exertion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUAOAGyT7ng

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I have distilled my story down to several lessons that work for any business or personal endeavor. The lessons serve as a snapshot of the wisdom I have gleaned after years of starting and leading companies, raising a family, setting world cycling records, and serving my community.  

Three of those lessons are:  

1. Take risks early in your career 

You are going to have setbacks at some point in your business or in your life. In the final analysis, though, failure is not about the falling down but the staying down. The ability to get back up over and over again will set you apart from those who doubt your abilities or tell you that your ideas are unsound.

2. Associate only with people of integrity 

To be a person of integrity, speak honestly, directly, and respectfully to everyone in your life and in your business. Maybe Mark Twain said it best: “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything. 

Know what you don’t know, and surround yourself with people from whom you can learn.  

After making some mistakes building teams early in my career, I learned to hire and empower a diverse group of people at Great American Cookies and Caribou Coffee who possessed exceptional talents and were not shy about challenging me. I marshaled those talents to build the largest cookie company in the nation and later to prepare Caribou to take on the industry giant, Starbucks. 

I share my story to help people face their Goliaths. Starting a new company, changing jobs, going back to school, surviving a divorce, or just trying to get back in shape are all stressful events that require courage and commitment. We all have the ability to battle giants. The challenge is finding courage to step into the valley.  

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Michael Coles, Co-founder of Great American Cookie Company, entrepreneur, philanthropist and immediate past president of Hillels of Georgia reflects on giving.

“I’ve been fortunate to work on many important causes throughout my life. Unequivocally, my six years as president of Hillels of Georgia have been some of the most rewarding.  

Empowering Students 

I’m proud to be an advocate for Hillels of Georgia’s mission to engage and empower Jewish students in vibrant Jewish life across campuses in Georgia. Hillels of Georgia gives students the space to proudly embrace their Jewish identities, and make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, community and Israel. 

Combating Antisemitism 

During my tenure as President of Hillels of Georgia, from 2012-2019, the world experienced a significant rise of antisemitism and discrimination. This was especially apparent on college campuses, that continues unabated today. With the help of a revitalized Board of Directors, dedicated staff and passionate student leaders, we transformed the mission of the organization to ensure a welcoming, inclusive and safe “home away from home” for Jewish students on campus.   

I am continuously inspired by the work of Hillels of Georgia. I saw first-hand the lasting impact the organization. Hillel creates a safe space for Jewish students and combats antisemitism on college campuses through generous support from our community. 

Three W’s 

In my time in philanthropy, I’ve always followed the concept of the “Three W’s“—Work, Wisdom, and Wealth.  

I see the concept in place with young students who are just starting out. They donate their time, energy and work to building the Jewish community. When they graduate, becoming more stable and successful, their contributions grow to encompass wisdom and wealth. 

Nonprofits and charitable organizations need community members to donate all three. Are you ready to give?”

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How cookies, coffee, and a devastating crash led to success in the cookie industry

Michael Coles, former CEO Caribou Coffee Company, Co-Founder Great American Cookie Company speaks with host David Cogan.

Today, Michael is a keynote speaker and author of Time to Get Tough: How Cookies, Coffee, and a Crash Led To Success in Business and Life.

Cogan is host of the Eliances Heroes show broadcast on am and fm network channels, internet radio, and online syndication.

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Michael J. Coles is a co-founder of the Great American Cookie Company and former CEO of Caribou Coffee. He joined The Building Business Podcast with host Matt Thiry to discuss business and focus.

Each episode focuses on a separate business leader.  The conversation covers what sets them apart, what makes them tick, and what they would share with their former selves to help tackle the inevitable challenges all businesses face.

During this interview, Michael shares many entrepreneurial tips:

1. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room
2. Surround yourself with good people — you’ll be surprised at how good they will make you look.

Learn more about Michael:

Website: michaelcoles.com / Kennesaw State University

LinkedIn: Michael Coles

Book: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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Virtual business presentation from keynote speaker Michael Coles

This September, Michael Coles presented at Small Business Expo Miami’s virtual event. Small Business Expo is Miami’s BIGGEST business networking and educational event. This year, the event went virtual, reaching small businesses owners and entrepreneurs from around the world.

So, through a virtual format, Michael brought his thought leadership to passionate business owners in Miami, FL and beyond. During the event, Michael shared his story, talked tips and discussed how to increase revenue & grow your business.

After watching the video, if you are interested in booking Michael Coles to deliver a keynote at your next event, please reach out here.

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