Sharing is Caring

Michael Hyatt is one of the best bloggers online. He is hosting a limited space webinar on My Recipe for a Killer Blog Post.

I wanted to invite my friends that might be interested. See you there.

Who is the real Truett Cathy?

One of my toughest days at work had the unique combinations of things. I was by myself on a Sunday finishing something I should have done the night before. My Operator was out of town. I was the only one in the restaurant at that time that could complete the task because of the complexity of the task. I was tired. I was worn out. I didn't really want to be there.

I was sitting thinking about where I could find some encouragement and I went to the Orientation Videos that every new hire watches. I clicked on the S. Truett Cathy Story and watched.

Everything our business is stems from who Truett is. Several examples of this would be keeping the hot food hot, and the cold food cold. Treating others with honor dignity and respect. Leading with real food. Leveraging the power of the cows. Everything Chick-fil-A does is because Truett wanted it done that way.

If you are ever in a jam, feeling down, or need a pick me up-look to Truett for guidance. Take a moment and listen to what he has to say. Read one of his four books. Watch a video. Ask people about him. By his example he can turn anything around.

Six days labor

One day of rest.

It's a unique ratio. Other than Chick-fil-A, who subscribes to that philosophy?

Something extra

I found an encouraging paragraph yesterday that talks about team work.

Take a battery, a piece of wire, and and a flashlight bulb. Lay them out on a table. What you have is three pieces-three individual things, that's all. Now, hook those three things all together. What you get then is one thing composed if three pieces. Each piece is different-but if each piece works as its suppose to, and if you get them all hooked together right, you get something extra. You get a fourth thing you didn't have before. In this case, light. 

How are you connecting the pieces at your store to make, say light?

What to expect from this blog

is-encouragment, training, and equipping people on the culture of Chick-fil-A.

From today moving forward I am going to be writing to my friends at Chick-fil-A.

From my beginning days of blitzing in Fayetteville, GA to where I am now at Gulf View Square in Port Richey, Florida, this blog is going to reach out to the team members I have come in contact with over the course of my time with Chick-fil-A. 

Seth Godin insist on a person asking permission before we market to them. I am going to insist that if you have heard about this blog it is due to word of mouth-the most powerful tool in the marketer's toolbox. My tribe is Chick-fil-A. There are many reasons to want to work for Chick-fil-A, but the main reason I enjoy being employed is because I get to work with my friends. 

Over the course of the next few weeks I am going to be ironing out the topics, the references, and the format to which this blog happens. Sometimes it won't be pretty, but it will be pretty clear that I am the one working on it. 

I hope you join me on my journey to encourage others to fulfill their potential, learn "how-to", and embrace what we are trying to do at Chick-fil-A. 

This blog is for you, and if you have a question-ask. If you aren't sure on how to do something-ask. If you want to know more about a subject-ask. 

I saw Dan a while ago at a opening and he said that when you quote scripture, the wind is at your back. As a Bible based business I will end with a scripture that has helped me foster my aggressive learning capacity. "Ask and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7:7. 

Stewardship

What does it mean?

Who knows how to have stewardship?

What happens when people become good stewards of the things they have?

How do you demonstrate it?

Where can we find more of it?

Is there a way to cultivate it?

A problem well defined is half solved...

Thou shalt not steal

Seth Godin wrote a wonderful book entitled All Marketers are Liars, and then realized the book title offended so many people, that he changed the name All Marketers are ^Not Liars. The book title grabs you since he considers himself a "marketer".

One thing I always see accomplished people do is reference others. They give credit when credit is due. A wise man once said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

Vince Lombardi and Paul "Bear" Bryant were two of the most prolific football coaches of all time and they both knew that their success was due to the fact that "stole" other people's ideas and used them for their own.

You will have to share. And someone else will have to help you succeed. 

Time Management

Redeem your time.

Jim Rohn once said (paraphrase)

Poor people have about 24 hours a day. And rich people have about 24 hours a day. Wouldn't that drive you mad until you knew what the difference was?

Make the most of your time, its seems like the best kept secret of the rich-time management. 

The Skill of Selective Listening

I have always been a fan of using other people's experiences to guide my own.

It's probably the student in me that comes out that say to myself, "If this guy screwed it up or got it right, let's take some notes and learn from him." Jim Rohn has a wonderful CD series called Challenge to Succeed.

In there he mentions the skill of selective listening. We have to become selective listeners. We have to tune people out in order to tune the better one in.

Yesterday I talked with a manager who wasn't really sure what he wanted to do and after talking to me I could tell he walked away encouraged from the conversation. I left the conversation encouraged. Listening to him was one of the best uses of my time. And from my seat, he wanted to share what was on his mind.

I got an award once based off of my ability to encourage people. So this is my encouragement to you, become a world class listener. Two ears, one mouth. Two eyes, one mouth. You can do more by watching and listening than you can by speaking.

In the comment section below, tell me about a favorite failure of when you spoke to soon, or didn't speak and should have. I would love to hear about your listening stories!

Major Change to this blog

For some time I have considered what it would be like to have a blog that connected me to other people. I constantly read blogs and take in new information, but never have I produced that kind of content. 

This blog will shift from the scattered to the specific. I am going to document what is happening to me on a professional level as I grow personally and with my company, Chick-fil-A. I will walk you though the in's and out's of what happens on a daily basis in our restaurant and other tid-bits as they come along. 

Thank you for reading. I will do my best to be vulnerable-so leave a note if you are feeling inquisitive, confused, or intrigued. 

Future Typical Post-

I have been working for Chick-fil-A for three years and am really enjoying the work. There are numerous reasons why I enjoy the work. We will walk through those as I move forward in time. 

The main reason is the leadership. I believe in Truett Cathy and his family. I believe they provide incredible value to the people they work with and for. There is not a large divide between me and them even though the distance between our homes is great. I saw the President two weeks ago at a Grand Opening in Middleburg, FL. He likes to take time to talk to people, get to know them, hand out his cell phone number on occasion, and just mix and mingle. Dan is a unique character who intent on growing our small business. 

Bible based principle. I have taken some time to read the Bible and the basis for how we operate comes directly from the Bible. Six days labor-one day rest. Treat others with Honor, Dignity, and Respect. Enrich the lives of the guest beyond the transaction. 

The people. I love who I work with. My Operator is incredible and anyone who meets the young man knows they have met a force to be reckoned with. My fellow team members that I have worked with across the country are fascinating. They are hard workers who love their families. Tax paying citizens. Good people. Righteous people. 

This will conclude it for the day. As we move forward in the ebb and flow with life and the ups and downs that come with it, I hope you continue to read and watch what happens to me in my quest to make Chick-fil-A a career. 

Failure

John Maxwell wrote a fabulous book called Failing Forward, where he discovered the power of success came after many attempts of failure. How can we leverage that knowledge to predict what our next successful project will be? Do we listen to the market before we make a product, or after we shipped one and they tell us what we really wanted. Let's hear it for the failures.

Choices

My six favorite friends... Who? What? When? Where? How? Why? We make the choice, and in the end, the choice makes us. This over that, now over later. When will you decide the timing is right?

drip drip drip

If you let a water drip fall on a rock it will eventually wear a hole in the rock. It used to be a form of torture back when we did not have electricity. I know that over time the purpose of this blog with come out, but it will take some time. Drip, drip, drip.

how do i deliver content-be encouraging

After a video that was encouraging me to get back to this, I am going to pick this back up and cover some ground where I left off last year. I am an encourager. I like to build people up. I can do this at work with a milkshake, but I can do it anywhere with my words. Words have a powerful was of changing people's lives from "I'm sorry" to "I love you" or "the time of death was 5:48". From any context we look at them, words play a powerful role in the lives we lead and the work we do. And believe me, we all work. Work to get paid, work to stay clean, work to stay fed. We all work How do you know if someone needs a helpful word-if they are breathing, they could use some encouragement.