Click here for Part I, Part II & Part IV

Bringing together the best of modern and ancient coffee roasting traditions

Todd Carmichael is the co-founder and CEO of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, a coffee chain headquartered in Philadelphia. Todd and La Colombe president JB Iberti founded the company in 1994, on a mission to bring better coffee to the United States through direct trade sourcing and an eye for the best aspects of ancient and modern coffee roasting traditions around the world. In the years since, La Colombe has expanded beyond in its initial café in Philadelphia and into locations in New York, Washington, DC, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles—with more on the way.

Todd is also an adventure traveler and television personality. In 2008, he became the first American to complete a solo trek across Antarctica to the South Pole—on foot and with no assistance—breaking the World Speed Record. His trek was the subject of the documentary film Race to the Bottom of the Earth. Additionally, Todd currently hosts the Travel Channel’s Dangerous Grounds and Uncommon Grounds, in which he travels to remote areas of the world to sample unique coffees, which he sources for La Colombe. He has been named Esquire Magazine’s “American of the Year” and Philadelphia Magazine’s “Person of the Year”, as well as Food Republic’s #1 most influential figure in its Coffee Power Ranking.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Tell us about what may your defining achievement: being the first American to walk alone and unaided to the South Pole.

TODD CARMICHAEL: The idea to be the first man to walk unsupported and unaided from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole came to me in Africa—because that makes sense, right? It doesn't make sense. And it was an English guy who was going on about the feat and I was surprised—I thought, “wait, I never thought of that.” Now, I have all these books about deserts because I really enjoy deserts, and I remember the last pages were of Antarctica; it never really sank in my mind that “yeah, Antarctica is a desert.” He was an English guy, well-known explorer, and he was saying how it couldn't be done solo. He had looked at it: it couldn't done solo, and it particularly couldn’t be done solo by an American. And it just got under my skin. It's like two kids in the ballpark: “Whaddya mean?” And so, by the end of this trek I was on with him, I said, “I'm going to do it.”

Here’s the problem: I'm bit of a hound dog. Once I’m on a scent, I just can't shake it. Even if I try to, it's done. It just gets in the brain, and it’s just going to go like this [Todd spins his forefingers around each other] until it gets done.

So, then I did it. That’s realistically it. It takes some time. I mean, you really have to be physically and mentally prepared. If you start out at 225 pounds and you can run two marathons a day—that's the kind of shape you're in—and you have to pull 250 to 275 pounds straight uphill for 14,000 feet, all the way to the pole, never saying a word to anyone, only eating what's in your sled, you’re going to lose 65, 70 pounds. And your lungs are going to be burned, your face is going to be burned almost to a crisp, your hands are going to be black, your feet are going to be black, and you're going to be mumbling to yourself in a way that makes no sense to anyone. It's a really, really tough, tough trek, so you've got to be really ready for it. And I was. And I did it—made it, barely.

Q. What motivated you to take on such an enormous mental and physical challenge?

A. Often, I tend to do things because I'm really interested in being my own hero. It always strikes me as strange when we read these stories, and you admire, so much, this guy on the screen, but you don't do anything to be like him. All I want to do is say, “Well, you know what?” I treat my heroes as kind of guides, and then I try to act out the way they did. Ultimately, since I was the first ever to do it, no one can ever take the first away. I'll always be mentioned along with one of my heroes.

The question is: Where does all the passion come from, right? I'm always cautious to say it’s “passion” because passion to me is an emotion, and human emotions are notoriously unreliable, right. Passion is one of those really hot, burning, ungh—you know, you have it for 10 minutes and it’s over. Passion gets you nowhere. It doesn't; it’s not sustainable enough. You can't run a company for 24 years on 10 minutes of passion. It has to somewhere else. Or you can't walk 40 days. I think “passion” gets overused a lot, and I think “genius” gets overused a lot, because I'm not passionate and I'm not a genius. What I am is I'm doggedly obsessed, and that shit happens to you.

But it happens this way: My older sister, when I was a kid, used to say this all the time: “Go, and your interests will follow.” And I always thought that was some of the greatest advice. Instead of just sitting around thinking, “What do I want do? Hmm.” And you never really conclude it, just go, just begin, and your interest follows. So, I take that now, and say, “Go, and your interests follow, and your obsessions follow right after that. Just don't spend a lot of time sitting around thinking about it.”

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ABOUT NEWMARK KNIGHT FRANK

Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NKF's 15,000 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents.

With roots dating back to 1929, NKF's strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. NKF's full-service platform comprises BGC's real estate services segment, offering commercial real estate tenants, landlords, investors and developers a wide range of services including leasing; capital markets services, including investment sales, debt placement, appraisal, and valuation services; commercial mortgage brokerage services; as well as corporate advisory services, consulting, project and development management, and property and corporate facilities management services. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

NKF is a part of BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC's common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ: BGCP). BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (NYSE: BGCA). BGC Partners is led by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer  Howard W. Lutnick. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.

Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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