Ep 269 The Leadership Exit Nobody Prepares You For w/Matt Friedman

There's a version of success nobody warns you about. The one where you've built something meaningful, achieved significance, and then handed it over. Suddenly the thing that defined you for decades is gone, and you're left wondering who you are without it.Matt Friedman built Wing Zone from $500 and a fraternity kitchen into a 140-location franchise across six countries. He spent 27 years pouring himself into that brand. And when he finally sold it, he discovered something uncomfortable: he had no idea what came next, and he'd been hiding that from himself for years.In this conversation, Matt pulls back the curtain on the quiet identity crisis that follows a major exit, the arrogance that crept in during the peak years, and why the things he never examined about himself were exactly the things that held him back as a leader. He also shares what it took to rebuild — not the business, but himself — and why the five years between selling Wing Zone and stepping in as CEO of Epic Wings were the most important of his career.If you're a leader approaching a transition, sitting in one, or quietly dreading the moment your title no longer tells you who you are, this conversation is for you. Matt talks honestly about what to plan for, what most people get wrong about exiting, and why the most important work you'll ever do isn't building the company — it's deciding who you want to be when it's done.Learn more about Matt on LinkedIn Here.Or visit his website and grab a copy of his book The Wing Zone Story athttps://mattfriedman.com/