Chick-Fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy Recalls His Greatest Moment Not Involving A Chicken Sandwich

Most people enjoying their meal at one of Chick-fil-A’s 2,600 locations don’t know this, but the restaurant chain’s chairman Dan Cathy was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame because of his athletic success in high school and college. Nor do they know that Cathy numbers two particular wrestling matches among the lowest and highest points of his life. “It’s something I don’t talk about often,” he said in a recent interview. “But it’s incredibly clear in my mind. The most disappointing experience in my life and the most joyous happened on a wrestling mat.”

As you can imagine, the disappointing match was a loss to the lowest seeded wrestler in his state’s Regional Championships (Cathy was the #1 seed); and the joyful moment came a year later when he won the State Final by beating the previous year’s champion in his 119-pound weight class. “I beat him by one point, with four seconds to go. I threw my headgear up in the air and went behind the stands with my brother, and we just wept in each other's arms in the thrill of that moment,” recalled Cathy, whose brother was also a grappler.

The victory gave Cathy a treasured memory for life, but the discipline of wrestling furnished a lifelong model for conducting himself as the leader of one of the nation's largest family owned businesses. “Our coach instilled in us the belief that if we never stepped on a mat against a competitor who was in better physical condition than we were, we would always have a competitive advantage,” Cathy said.

“I learned what it meant to leave everything on that mat. There’s an exhilaration and sheer joy that comes from complete exhaustion and knowing you did your very best. It’s an incredible experience.”

As a business leader, Cathy expends the same amount of energy keeping the family business in tip-top shape. At Chick-fil-A there is no delayed maintenance and no potholes in the parking lots, says Cathy. The restaurants have up to date equipment and technology business systems that enable people to fly through the drive through at “astounding” rates. “If you are in that competitive set, that's just what you do,” Cathy noted. “I think in life, when we pursue our passions, we do the kinds of things that we have to do in order to be world class.”

And to be world class requires benchmarking against other world-class organizations, even when they don’t serve the same marketplace as you do. When Chick-fil-A was searching for ways to differentiate itself from competitors, Cathy met with the Ritz Carlton’s Horst Schulze who told him that if he wanted to be better than other quick-service restaurants, he should be more like the Ritz. Cathy obliged and put fresh flowers in his restaurants, put pepper grinders on the tables and hired hosts to make guests feel better taken care of.

For all of his personal drive to succeed, Cathy is adamant that success is a team sport, and the leader's job is to create clear pathways for individual and collective success. These include:

• Turning success into succession: Victory does not always go to the most talented collection of individuals; more often than not, it goes to the best team. Cathy learned this from the track coach for U.S. Track and Field when Cathy confessed that he thought relay teams comprised the fastest runners. “No, sir,” the coach told Cathy. “It doesn’t work that way. The team that gets the baton around the track first wins the race.” The point, concludes Cathy, is that good teamwork is an exchange, a “seamless transition” from teammate to another one, and on up the line.”
• Helping your team thrive: If your company has a lot of mobility out the door, the chances are good you’re missing something, says Cathy. “At Chick-fil-A, people come here and thrive here.” Cathy credits the longevity to plentiful opportunities for mobility within the company as well as a well-maintained physical environment to work in.
• Bring someone along: Cathy may be a lifelong learner but he avoids setting out on any learning adventure by himself. “Make sure you take people with you. A leader should never go anywhere by themselves and forfeit the opportunity of sharing the knowledge, the learning that can be gained by being well-traveled,” he said. Such inclusivity builds morale, develops leadership on your team and creates a wider – and more useful – pool of in-the-know teammates.

Cathy is proudest of his service ethic, which has carried him for 40 years at the helm of the family business where he still welcomes guests with a firm handshake and the greeting, “Hi, I”m Dan. I work in customer service.” As delicious as Chick-fil-A food is, that's not people's greatest need, avers Cathy. “Their greatest need is being encouraged. Chick-fil-A’s purpose is that customers leave better and more encouraged than when they came in.”