Brian Schnell, Partner and Chair of the Franchise Practice at Faegre Drinker, brings nearly four decades of franchise law, operations, and executive leadership to one of franchising's most persistent tensions: the breakdown between franchisors and franchisees. In this conversation with host Brendon Dennewill, Brian challenges the command-and-control model still used by too many brands and makes the case for a collaborative leadership philosophy rooted in trust, franchisee voice, and unit-level profitability. If you lead or advise a franchise system and want to understand what separates sustainable brands from those that stagnate, this episode is required listening.

What You'll Learn

• Why franchisee voice matters more than franchisee vote
• The first habit of highly successful franchise systems
• When command and control actually destroys brand equity
• How leadership gaps compound as systems scale
• What most franchise disputes actually start as
• The role private equity is beginning to play in franchising's future
• Why data without the human element still leads to bad decisions

Resources Mentioned

• 2026 Franchise Summit
• Faegre Drinker 
• "The Five Habits of the Highly Successful Franchise System"  framework developed by Brian Schnell and Bill Killian
• "The AI-Driven Leader" by Geoff Woods 
• HubSpot CRM 
• IFA (International Franchise Association)

Is your business ready to scale? Take the Growth Readiness Score to find out. In 5 minutes, you’ll see: 

• Benchmark data showing how you stack up to other organizations
• A clear view of your operational maturity 
• Whether your business is ready to scale (and what to do next if it’s not)

Let's Connect

• Subscribe to the RevOps Champions Newsletter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Explore the show at revopschampions.com. 

Ready to unite your teams with RevOps strategies that eliminate costly silos and drive growth? Let's talk!