The business sector is booming as more and more small companies emerge around the United States (US). As trends continue to come and go nationwide, an increasing number of Americans strive to run a business of their own but lack a clear direction on how to get started. Fortunately, 48-year-old CEO of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, Fawn Weaver, discusses her secrets to the success of securing and running a $1 billion startup. “I hire the best, and I get out of their way,” she nonchalantly explains.
Meet Fawn Weaver, CEO of Uncle Nearest Whiskey
Many business owners and bosses like to hover over their workers, often conspicuously eavesdropping to ensure that all tasks and responsibilities are carried out properly. However, Fawn Weaver is not one of those figureheads. At 48 years old, Weaver became a self-established millionaire after founding Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey in 2016.
The bright and bold business runner spearheads her company in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Over the last few years, the startup has become the fastest-developing American whiskey brand in US history. According to the International Wine and Spirits Record and Forbes, Uncle Nearest has already achieved a $1.1 billion valuation as of May 2024.
Weaver isn’t just an exceptional entrepreneur; she’s also a New York Times best-selling author. As a writer, she expectedly cultivates a passion for storytelling, with the niche belief that the tale behind American whiskey’s commencement is an especially magnetic genre.
With all her successes, Weaver states that her business’s growth didn’t come with micromanaging. “I have two things that everyone in the company knows,” she declared. The first thing is called HBU, or “highest and best use of time. So, if it is not my highest and best use of time, it usually will not bubble up to me.” The second thing she shared was in the form of a policy. “If someone else can do it, then someone else should do it.”
Keeping these two simple components in mind, Weaver runs her business to the top of the whiskey pyramid.
Uncle Nearest: A Brief History
If you’re familiar with Jack Daniel’s, you have Nathan Green, nicknamed “Nearest,” to thank. Born around 1820, Green worked as an enslaved Black man on a Tennessee farm. He passed on his expertise to Jack Daniel in the 1850s, using his West African charcoal filtering technique to make whiskey.
After the Civil War, Green became the first master distiller at the Jack Daniel Distillery. Unfortunately, his whiskey-brewing innovations went widely unnoticed until Fawn Weaver founded the Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey brand in 2016.
Today, Uncle Nearest’s whiskey-making method remains a staple in Lincoln County Process of Tennessee, using sugar maple charcoal to filter the bourbon.
How Weaver Wins in the Whiskey Industry
Understandably, Weaver spends more time remaining busy with high-level company duties instead of physically supervising her employees several times throughout the day. She finds no need to tyrannize workers’ completion of daily assignments.
“Micromanaging does not work,” she plainly said. “I have built this entire company on ‘intrapreneurs.’” This terminology allows employees to “own their jobs” and job descriptions, leaving Weaver out of their way to do what they do best.
Why Fawn Weaver Is Right About Micromanagement
73% of employees find micromanagement a serious red flag in businesses, both big and small. According to a job platform survey conducted in August 2023, many workers say that micromanaging contributes to sentiments of anxiety and negativity. 46% stated that they ultimately left their occupation due to constant micromanagement.
Unfortunately, some businesses will still have micromanaging bosses who can’t break the habit. For employees dealing with extremely controlling managers, it could help to over-communicate. If you anticipate your boss’s questions and concerns before they raise them independently, you may save yourself the headache as the day, week, or even month progresses.
Fawn Weaver realized this sooner rather than later, leading to the fastest-growing whiskey business nationwide.
Fawn Weaver Makes Worthy Whiskey with Uncle Nearest
The Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey business currently bustles beneath the leadership of a 48-year-old Black woman. Looking ahead, Weaver also reflects on the hardships that outline her achievements. She notes that running the whiskey brand is akin to “slaying dragons.” However, she believes the key to being a great boss lies in staying in the lane made just for you.
As Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey grows, Fawn Weaver makes sure everyone knows who Nathan “Nearest” Green is, immortalizing his whiskey-distilling legacy for future generations.
