Former Jamba Juice CEO James D. White: Empathy Is a Talent That Can Be Taught

Harvard Business Review · Oct 25, 2026 · 39m

Former Jamba Juice CEO James D. White: Empathy Is a Skill That Can Be Taught

1 Dec 2022

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James D. White considers himself “an unlikely public company CEO.” His first job out of college was handling sales for Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid division in some of Missouri’s “sundown towns,” where potential customers would imply that, as a Black man, it would be “unhealthy” for him to stick around past sunset. Nevertheless, White rose through the ranks at Coca-Cola and would go on to hold executive positions at Safeway, Gillette, and Nestlé Purina before becoming CEO, chair, and president of Jamba…