Finding God in Corporate America - Part 4: Truett Cathy (Founder of Chick-fil-A)

Early last year, my friend lent me the book, Eat More Chicken, written by Chick-fil-A's founder, Truett Cathy (1921-2014). The book describes Cathy's upbringing and his journey to becoming the founder of the restaurant. Growing up in a difficult time, Cathy learned the principles of hard work, honesty, loyalty, and respect. By applying these principles to work, he grew the restaurant from a single store to more than 2000 nowadays. Being a devout Christian, Cathy's religious beliefs had impacted the way he led the business, which is obviously shown through the company's mission statement, "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."

Since the book was lent by my friend, I ended up typing down the lines that jumped out to me. Today, as I reviewed them, I found these great ones in just the first few pages of the book.

  • When leaders put the welfare of others first, there is no limit to what they can accomplish. (p. vii)
  • The lesson that is continually reinforced in me is that to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, we must leave ourselves available. If we had set lofty long-range goals for our company's growth, our capital might have been so tied up in construction that we would have been unable to respond to these opportunities. (p.4)
  • To receive a blessing, we often have to take actions first. (p.10)
  • Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else -- our time, our love, or our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return. (p.11)
  • Unexpected opportunities almost always carry with them the chance to be a faithful steward and to influence others positively . . . We change the world, and ourselves, by our responses to unexpected opportunities. How will you respond today? (p.11)

As I read through those quotes, I can sense the compassion of Cathy. Caring for employees may be easier when the company is small, but the level of personal attention is much harder to achieve as a company grows. I was so amazed when I read about this practice that Cathy described in the book (published in 2002): "From the beginning, and until only recently, I interviewed every new candidate. I knew all of the operators by name, and most of their spouses and children."

Not long after I read the book, I came across a podcast in which Andy Stanley had an interview with Glen Jackson, the co-founder of Jackson Spalding. The talk was on the topic of "The Seven Pillars of Preeminence." One of the seven pillars described by Jackson was the culture torch of servant leadership. Jackson recalled that he first saw this pillar in action through a scene he observed of Cathy in an airport in 1995. At the time, Jackson was a young 31 years old entrepreneur, while Cathy was already a well-known businessman. After a pleasant brief encounter, Cathy handed Jackson a Chick-fil-A BOG (be our guest) card. It meant so much to Jackson that he carried the card in his wallet every day from 1995 until his company worked for Chick-fil-A seven years later. The BOG card is so memorable to Jackson because of the personal encounter with Cathy and what he observed thereafter.

Here is the scene. After the brief chat with Jackson, Cathy went over to the baggage claim, and there was a young lady from their plane about four months pregnant. Jackson looked over and saw Cathy got her luggage from the conveyor belt, had it all set up, loaded on the push cart for her. The snapshot that Jackson observed of Cathy taught him that no task is too small for a servant leader. The same day, Cathy went on to the Washington Press Club for a talk; and met with the president of the United States the next year. No task is too big for a servant leader. Just as Cheryl Bachelder puts it, servant leaders are "courageous enough to take the people to a daring destination, yet humble enough to selflessly serve others on the journey."

In between these reading and listening about the Chick-fil-A's values, I saw an article about how a Chick-fil-A employee greeted a customer with special needs with respect and care. It brought back Jackson's comment, "No task is too small for servant leader."

http://faithit.com/new-chickfila-cashier-shocks-the-crowd-when-she-does-this-in-response-to-a-deaf-customer-inspirational/

Whether you’re a cashier at a fast-food restaurant or vice president of a multi-million dollar corporation, we are all equally blessed with the opportunity to bless those around us. It doesn’t always have to be as big as a hefty donation or starting your own church. Sometimes we start by inviting people into the love of Christ through a simple hand gesture that says, “Hey, you’re cared for—and you’re welcome here.”

Indeed, values are caught, not taught. Principles shape the culture, which in turn drives the results. I was very touched by these behind-the-scene snapshots. It says a lot about a person's character, especially when the kind acts are done when nobody is watching.

If you are interested to the podcast, here is the link: