Kat Cole has learned a lot of lessons, sometimes the hard way, in her career path from a waitress at a Hooters restaurant to CEO of Cinnabon, a chain of retail bakeries. She took over Cinnabon in 2008 during the Great Recession.

If you could respond to a disruptive environment, would you rather do that when the market was strong and your brand had equity, or when your revenue was flat and you were losing clout in the marketplace?

For children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, it is priceless to be able to spend a week playing, laughing and creating memories. At the Give Kids the World Village, more than 151,000 families from all 50 states and more than 76 countries have done exactly that.