Ep. 539 - Taco Johns COO Jackie Secor - Why Emotional Strength Now Outperforms Expertise
Second in Command: The Chief Behind the Chief with Cameron Herold
Second in Command with Cameron Herold
4.9 • 224 Ratings
🗓️ 26 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ever feel like you’re stuck fixing fires instead of building teams that actually thrive? Imagine stepping into a legacy brand, mobilizing hundreds of operators, and transforming your culture from confused to unbeatable, all while modernizing for the future.
In this episode, Cameron Herold gets real with Jackie Secor, COO of Taco John’s. She’s a 25-year franchise and operations veteran who reveals how trust, creativity, and emotional intelligence drive relentless brand loyalty and profit. They dive deep into promoting insiders, learning from the front line, fighting standardization chaos, and using AI to cut real problems, not just hype.
If you’re tired of leadership fluff and want the actual proven moves great COOs use to build legendary teams, this episode is your advantage. Press play right now if you want to stop the pain of high turnover, poor culture, or outdated systems and get the inside story you’ll never hear anywhere else.
Timestamped Highlights
[00:00] – Why problem-dropping is forbidden in Jackie’s office
[03:01] – The unexpected challenges facing any new COO in a legacy brand
[04:06] – Why the right network beats experience every time
[07:42] – Jaw-dropping fix: How she clawed back operational standardization
[09:21] – The hidden dangers of outsourced audits (and how Jackie reversed them)
[13:30] – How stretch assignments reveal real leaders, not just performers
[15:04] – Emotional intelligence: The operator’s secret weapon
[17:42] – How Jackie coaches Gen Z talent when they want the corner office—now
[20:03] – The shocking empathy learned on the franchisee side
[25:41] – Standardizing the most controversial taco technique: meat on bottom or side?!
[29:13] – Multi-generation success—how Taco John’s beats the odds other brands can’t
[32:03] – Are robots and AI the real next move, or total overkill?
[36:03] – Why “get back to basics” wins versus flashy ideas every time
[37:46] – The one job in the restaurant nobody envies (and why it matters for culture)
[43:31] – Redefining quality and value, even as giants like Chipotle pivot fast
[44:04] – Why every franchisor MUST run their own locations for credibility
[45:56] – The advice Jackie wishes she got at 21 (and warns every young COO today)
About the Guest
Jackie Secor is the Chief Operating Officer at Taco John’s, a fast-growing, family-owned restaurant brand with a passionate multi-generation franchise base. With over 25 years’ experience across both franchisee and franchisor sides, including at Auntie Anne’s, she’s renowned for building high-performance teams, driving operational turnarounds, and modernizing legacy operations through creativity and emotional intelligence.
Mentioned Resources
- Auntie Anne’s
- GO To Foods
- International Franchise Association (IFA)
- Heather Neary (Taco John’s CEO)
- Presto AI
- Chipotle
- 1-800-GOT-JUNK
- Starbucks USA
- Sprint acquired by T-Mobile
Important Links
- Connect with Cameron: Website | LinkedIn
- Explore the COO Alliance - The World’s Leading Community for Seconds in Command
- Get Cameron’s book: Second in Command: Unleash the Power of Your COO Book
- Take his course: Invest In Your Leaders Online Course (Use promo code PODCAST10 before the end of the month for 10% off)
- Chat or video call with AI Cameron via Delphi
The Second in Command Podcast is an original production hosted by Cameron Herold. Brought to you by COO Alliance. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I think it's really taking a step back. I think it's what I just talked about is that, |
| 0:04.6 | you know, giving people stretch assignments, allowing them to make decisions. You know, |
| 0:09.6 | anybody who has ever worked for me knows that you never walk into my office and drop a problem |
| 0:14.4 | on my desk. You walk into my office, you tell me what the problem is, and then you have your |
| 0:18.4 | list of solutions and let's talk through it. |
| 0:30.4 | So it's really evaluating the way that they approach an issue or a problem or an opportunity that they see that nobody else has seen and fostering that environment to encourage that |
| 0:36.4 | creative thinking or that out-of-the-box thinking. |
| 0:39.5 | But then it's also about, you know, how, because to be an operator, to work in operations. |
| 0:51.0 | Welcome to the Second in Command podcast, produced by the COO Alliance and brought to you by its founder, Cameron Harold. |
| 0:59.1 | In the Second in Command podcast, we talked to top COOs who share the insights, strategies, and tactics that made them the chief behind the chief. |
| 1:07.5 | And now here's your co-host, former COO of a multi-eight |
| 1:11.6 | figure remote company and alumni member of the COO Alliance, |
| 1:15.8 | Savannah Brewer. |
| 1:20.3 | All right, I'm excited about this podcast, |
| 1:22.0 | not just because I like tacos, |
| 1:24.2 | but because Jackie Seacore, who is the chief operating officer |
| 1:27.3 | of Taco Johns, is dropping |
| 1:28.8 | some huge, huge bombs for us today. She's going to walk us through how an executive like her, |
| 1:34.6 | who had been with one company for 25 years in a number of different operational roles, |
| 1:38.8 | leading seven different franchise organizations, how she transitioned into Taco Johns as |
| 1:43.6 | their chief operating officer, what her first 90 days was like, how she transitioned into Taco Johns as their chief operating officer, what |
| 1:45.3 | her first 90 days was like, how she's constantly looking for people internally to promote |
... |
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