023 – Want to Lead? Better Learn to Follow: Jimmy Collins, Former President and COO of Chick-fil-A
Your Leadership Story
English - June 18, 2014 08:00 - 35 minutes - 49.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 23 ratingsBusiness business entrepreneur entrepreneurship smallbusiness Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Everyone we talk to thinks Jimmy Collins is a great leader . . . with one exception — Jimmy Collins. He thinks of himself as a follower instead of a leader. As the former President and COO of Chick-fil-A, Jimmy Collins was the third person Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy, hired for the corporate office. That …
Everyone we talk to thinks Jimmy Collins is a great leader . . . with one exception — Jimmy Collins. He thinks of himself as a follower instead of a leader.
As the former President and COO of Chick-fil-A, Jimmy Collins was the third person Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy, hired for the corporate office. That began a 32-year career for Jimmy, working side-by-side with Truett, or as Jimmy would say, “in the shadow of greatness.”
One of our core beliefs in producing the Your Leadership Story Podcast is that the best way for leaders to learn leadership is to learn directly from the stories of other leaders. Our interview with Jimmy Collins deepens that conviction for us. In fact, we may revise our statement to focus on learning from leaders AFTER they have demonstrated their leadership impact through a long and successful career.
Since retiring from Chick-fil-A, Jimmy Collins has remained incredibly busy. He launched a new organization called Creative Followership that focuses on the powerful connection between following and leading. He also wrote an inspiring, easy-to-read in an evening book called, Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness — My Journey to President of Chick-fil-A. You should order a copy and read it immediately. It’s that good.
You’ll love listening to Jimmy Collins in this interview as much as we did. His down-to-earth manner and wonderful storytelling made the time fly by for us. In the end, we were pondering the things he said and wishing we had another hour with him.
In the world of leadership studies, advice gets repacked and recycled. That’s why it’s so refreshing to find a leader like Jimmy Collins with a truly original perspective born out of his own experience. Please help us get the word out about what Jimmy Collins is doing. First listen to the interview then share it with others, especially younger people at the beginning of their careers. You’ll be doing them a great favor. You’ll know why as soon as you start listening.