526: Mark Miller (VP of Chick-fil-A High Performance Leaderships) - How Chick-fil-A Built A World Class Culture

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Ryan Hawk

Business, Careers, Management

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right...

Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com

Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12 https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12

Mark Miller started his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. Mark's cell phone number is 678-612-8441. He asked that you text him your thoughts on this episode. In 1978, he joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and Leadership Development. During his tenure with Chick-fil-A, the company has grown from 75 restaurants to over 2,300 locations with annual sales approaching $10 billion. Mark began writing almost twenty years ago when he teamed up with Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, to write The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. He's now written 11 books that have sold over 1 million copies. His latest is called Culture Rules.

Notes:

"Your capacity to grow determines your capacity to lead."
- You must make the choice to be a learner...
Let's start with a story told by the late philosopher, David Foster Wallace. He said, "There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says, "Morning boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, "What the hell is water?"
Mark Miller conducted research with more than 6,000 individuals from ten countries that revealed that 71% of U.S. leaders believe culture is their most powerful tool to drive performance. However, the study revealed that enhancing workplace culture ranked eleventh on the leader's priority list.
"If your heart is not right, no one cares about your skills." Your character, integrity, and care for others must be there to earn any type of followership. If your heart is not right, no one cares about your skills.
The 3 culture rules are aspire, amplify, and adapt:
- Aspire - Share your hopes and dreams for the culture (Andrew Cathy, new CEO, said "Rooted in purpose, known for our care.")
- Amplify - Always be looking for ways to reinforce and amplify the aspiration for your culture.
- Adapt - Always look for ways to enhance your culture and be innovative.
The Magic Circle: It dates back to 1938 when Dutch Historian Johan Huizinga wrote about the impact of play on culture…
The "Must-Have" leadership qualities
- Character
- Competence
- Chemistry
Mark has spent a lot of time with Navy SEALs to learn about culture... Key takeaways:
- Shoot
- Move
- Communicate
Is focusing on culture a soft skill? The data suggests it is the #1 driver of performance.
Storytelling - People remember the stories more than the stats. Don't just tell... Take people there.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Over 40 years ago, I had a supervisor who convinced me that my capacity to grow would determine my
0:10.4	capacity to leave. If you want more influence, you want more opportunity, you want more impact
0:16.9	over the long haul, there's only one half-wife-long learning.
0:28.0	Welcome to The Learning Leaders Show, presented by Insight Global. I am your host, Ryan Hock.
0:35.5	Thank you so much for being here. Text Hock to 66866 to become part of Mindful Monday. You,
0:43.2	along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders from all over the world, will receive a
0:47.8	carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right.
0:53.1	You'll also receive details about how my book, The Pursuit of Excellence, will help you become a
0:58.6	more effective leader text Hock to 66866 now onto the night's featured leader. Mark Miller is
1:07.2	Chick-fil-A's vice president of high-performance leadership. He began his Chick-fil-A career
1:13.9	working as an hourly employee in 1977. Shortly thereafter, he became the 16th corporate employee
1:24.6	working in the warehouse since that day. He has worked all across the business, ending up in
1:29.6	leadership development. He's also written 11 best-selling books, including his most recent,
1:34.8	which is called Culture Rules, the leader's guide to creating the ultimate competitive
1:40.2	advantage. During this conversation, we discussed the three must-have qualities to get hired
1:46.1	as a leader at Chick-fil-A, as well as as a franchise owner. That whole process was fascinating
1:51.6	to learn about. Then the three culture rules and how to implement them in your business,
1:57.4	then Mark shares the right way to use storytelling with the people you're leading.
2:03.5	We covered that, and so much more ladies and gentlemen, this one is so good! It's Mark Miller!
2:12.8	Mark, it's great to have you here on the Learning Leader Show. Welcome.
2:16.5	Thank you, Ryan, delighted to be with you. To start, I love that you told the story in your
2:21.3	most recent book Culture Rules. I'm going to tee it up and I'm going to ask you to expand it.
	...

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