I love one of the stories Andy Stanley tells about Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fila.
As the story goes, several years ago the executive leadership team of Chick-fil-a had worked for quite some time on how to keep up with the competitive challenge created in their industry by Boston Chicken (later known as Boston Market). After a period of intense research and market studies, a group of young visionary leaders with big ideas and bright strategies found themselves in a committee room of frenzied debate over how to get bigger faster!
At the height of the dialogue, Truett Cathy the founder of Chick-fil-a began to pound on the table, which was very uncharacteristic of this admirable leader. When every eye in the room turned to him, he exclaimed that he was sick and tired of all this talk about getting bigger. Then he said:
“If we get better our customers will demand we get bigger!”
Over years of competing in the volatile food service industry, Cathy knew the secret to success and significance. It was getting “better” before you get “bigger.”
In our culture today, we see a frantic pace of leaders trying to create bigger. Yet sadly, much greatness is sacrificed on the altar of bigger and bigger, faster and faster. If a leader desires to build people and not just products, services, and more programs, he or she would be wise to focus on getting better at that idea.
Leader’s Goal: Focus on building a better self, better people, and better teams. The bigger will take care of itself as better leadership and better teams will inevitably produce bigger impact and bigger influence.