Chick-fil-A Leadercast 2012: Andy Stanley

• As a leader I may be in charge, but I have to realize I don’t have all the answers.

• As a leader I am not necessarily the smartest person in room.

• As a leader I may not even be the best leader in organization.

• We know we never have all the info we need to make a decision

• As the leader at the end of the day your organization turns to you and you have to make a decision.

• Uncertainty makes leaders leaders

• Uncertainty drives us crazy, it makes us nervous

• Now you are the adult in the room, you have to make the decision, and that is difficult

• The goal of leadership is not to eradicate uncertainty,but rather navigate it

• You have to make a decision

• You have to make choices

• This brings objectivity to the decision making process

• We fall in love and comfortable with the way we do things and the way we make decisions.

• Couch illustration, bought for one house and years later you moved and moved the old couch to a new house and it is ugly there, but by now you have fallen in love with that couch and you have lost objectivity and love the couch even though the couch is ugly and everyone except you realizes it.

• “Only the Paranoid Survive”-book by Andy Grove

• Uses the Ferris Wheel story from book

• He asked what new CEO would do if we were kicked out?

• The new CEO would get us out of memories

• Why shouldn’t we walk out the door and do this?

• We are so emotionally wrapped up in what we are doing that we will never be able to be successful at moving forward.

• Got this question from Bill Hybels

• This question takes you out of your immediate situation, out of the smallness of your situation and elevates your perspective, expands your vision.

• He references Jack Welch, other great leaders

• Great leaders, selfless, not in it for me, and not concerned for my own reputation.

• CFA example: competition from Boston Chicken (Market) how do we outgrow BM?

• How do we get bigger and get bigger faster?

• “Wealth Isn’t Worth It”-Truett Cathy book details this story

• In the year 2000 BM was in bankruptcy while CFA hit a billion in sales as a company.

• This question will create margin in your thinking

• If you ask this question before you make commitment to follow thru with the answer, you will step into a new arena of thinking as a leader.

• Once it dawns on you that there is a different path, different possibilities it will expand your thinking and broaden your horizons.

• There will be tension in that question

• There will be extraordinary opportunity in that question

• Every decision you make is a part of the story you want to tell.

• When this is simply a story I tell, what story will you tell?

• This is the legacy you will leave.

• Will there be dark periods in your life that you have to skip over?

• Will there be bad decisions, things you don’t want uncovered, stories you don’t want revealed, closets you don’t want open?

• Your story is with you forever!

• Make your story one you want to be able to tell.

• A story you will be proud to share with your children.

• Live life without regrets.

• I will never sacrifice my family for the sake of my career!

• Never write a story you will regret and don’t want to tell

• Money comes, money goes…but your story is with you for life. Make sure it is something you are proud of.