Truett Cathy (1921-2014): ‘Leadership by example’

Recently a friend of mine and former manager of a successful business enterprise shared in my presence the leadership he had witnessed in Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A. Before that unplanned evening experience in the Macon, Georgia Chick-fil-A, my friend admits to being a “hard-charging” and demanding manager of his employees.

He had patterned his leadership style on what he saw in some of his company’s national leaders. My friend admits that he was not sensitive enough to the lives and needs of his employees.

That “hard-charging” and demanding concept of leadership changed for my friend that night at that Chick-fil-A by what he witnessed in the life of Cathy. He watched this senior Christian gentleman and very successful businessman move among the employees to affirm each one for his or her service to the public and to show his respect for each employee … especially so to a special needs employee who was cleaning the floor and tables.

Cathy embraced with kindness and respect this particular employee as if that employee were his own son. What a powerful example of good and caring leadership. He was a visible role model for my friend without being aware of the influence he was having on another customer who had stopped to eat. My friend’s own leadership style was changed that night.

Cathy, of course, was not perfect, but he put people and principles ahead of profit. Besides founding this highly successful restaurant chain, he taught 8th grade boys in Sunday School for many years, teaching them biblical standards on which to build their lives, and he founded the Win Shape Foundation in 1984, to help “young people succeed in life through scholarships and other youth support programs.” (The Christian Index, Sept. 18, 2014, p. 2)

He was a man of God who practiced his faith in his everyday life and taught those principles to his family and to his employees. At age 93, he was promoted to glory on Sept. 8, 2014, at his home surrounded by his loved ones. He was survived by his wife of 65 years, by his two sons and one daughter, by 19 grandchildren and by 18 great-grandchildren.

My friend adopted the leadership of this outstanding Christian businessman who had unknowingly that night passed on the caring leadership style of Jesus of Nazareth.

Peace!