EM 184 | Dan Cathy on the Origin of Chick-fil-A [REPLAY]

Summary:

Welcome to Episode 184 of Executive Minds and join us as we jump back into our conversation with Dan Cathy!

Don’t Discount Your History

You are the sum of your lived experience, both in business and your personal life. One of the best ways to grow in our leadership is to use that lived experience for better or worse. Those of us who are blessed to have had a positive family environment can take the examples of compassionate leadership we learned from our parents and apply them to both our career and home lives. Those of us who endured a more challenging upbringing should take time to reflect on the causes and effects of that experience and decide the ways we wish to break out in order to become a more compassionate and effective leader. Either way, your history is a huge part of who you are, so it’s best to look it in the eyes.

Start By Taking Care of Your Staff

One of the distillations on leadership that comes from the Harvard Business School can be summed up as, “external service quality is a reflection of internal service quality.” Basically, the only way you’re going to be able to deliver consistent service to your customer base is by first taking care of those who are on the front lines of those interactions. That means treating your staff in a manner that takes into account first and foremost their humanity; their lives not just as they relate to you or your organization. When you take a real interest in your staff, you create a level of trust that will extend from them down to those your organization serves. Treat your business like a family, and it will do the same for you.