LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — What happens when a leader built on constant motion is forced to slow down and look inward? In a new episode of Perception Box: Corner Office, Yum! Brands co-founder and leadership luminary David Novak reflects on a life shaped by movement, ambition, and ultimately, the transformative power of self-awareness.
David Novak’s life has been defined by movement across 23 states, countless small towns, and eventually to the helm of Yum! Brands, one of the world’s largest restaurant companies, with iconic brands including KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. The son of a government surveyor, Novak grew up constantly on the road, learning early how to read people and adapt quickly to new environments. Later, as a corporate outsider with a journalism degree, those instincts gave him an electric confidence that set him apart in boardrooms filled with MBAs.
But Novak’s success came with hard lessons about the limits of ambition. At times, his relentless drive carried a personal cost, one he would only fully recognize years later. Professional missteps forced him to question long-held assumptions and rethink how he saw the world. He came to understand that intuiting people’s wants and needs, whether colleagues, customers, or friends, was not enough. True progress required listening more closely, slowing down, and consciously shifting his perspective.
In this episode of the exclusive video series co-produced by the nonprofit organization Unlikely Collaborators and Custom Content from WSJ, Novak examines his Perception Box™ framework, the internal set of beliefs and biases that shape how we see ourselves and others. He explores how his nomadic childhood became a defining strength, why failure proved as instructive as success, and how stepping away from the empire he built helped him realize that a life filled with meaning matters more than any business achievement.
This newest installment joins four other compelling episodes of Perception Box: Corner Office, which take viewers inside the personal and professional lives of some of today’s most influential entrepreneurs and leaders:
- Sophia Amoruso (Founder, Nasty Gal) — From selling vintage clothes online to creating a $350 million empire, Amoruso reflects on the highs and lows of her meteoric rise, exploring how fame, failure, and resilience shaped her journey.
- Bob Stiller (Founder, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters) — After navigating personal loss and insecurity in his youth, Stiller built two iconic brands, including Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. He reveals the pride of pioneering mindful workplace culture and the pain of watching that culture evolve as the business scaled.
- Jim McKelvey (Co-founder, Square) — A childhood marked by social isolation and tragedy gave McKelvey a unique lens on life, which fueled his rise as an innovator. Despite his success, McKelvey opens up about his discomfort with the mythology surrounding his achievements.
- Daymond John (Founder, FUBU) — From growing up in Hollis, Queens, during the crack epidemic to building a global fashion brand and becoming a longtime Shark Tank investor, John reflects on how hardship, failure, and urgency shaped his worldview and relentless drive.
At a time when leadership requires both innovation and emotional intelligence, Perception Box: Corner Office is a timely reminder that great leaders are shaped not just by their wins but by their struggles. This series encourages viewers to reflect on their own limiting beliefs and consider how they can transform their perspectives to lead with greater purpose.
All episodes of Perception Box: Corner Office are now available for streaming here on the Unlikely Collaborators website.
Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit organization, founded and chaired by Elizabeth R. Koch, dedicated to fostering transformative storytelling, developing human connection, and resolving internal conflict. Unlikely Collaborators’ perspective is that external conflict arises from unconscious, unresolved internal conflict within each of us. Founded on the belief that the way we perceive the world is highly subjective, Unlikely Collaborators supports projects that challenge assumptions, spark meaningful dialogue, and invite people into deeper self-awareness in community.
Central to this mission is the groundbreaking Perception Box™ framework developed by Koch. More than just a metaphor, it represents the often unseen matrix of biases, beliefs, and personal narratives that influence how we interpret reality. Rooted in cognitive science and psychological research, this framework illustrates how each person’s unique mental model shapes their understanding of the world, often limiting their ability to connect with new perspectives and ideas. By investigating and untangling our Perception Box beliefs, individuals and communities can unlock compassion, creativity, and new ways of thinking.
Perception Box: Corner Office was created in partnership with Custom Content from WSJ, a unit of The Wall Street Journal Advertising Department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.
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SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators
