If you’ve ever read the story of Harlan Sanders, then you understand that hard work and persistence are generally a prerequisite to success. At age 66 he was broke and out of work. He had to fend for himself since age 12 and worked every kind of job and dabbled in many business ventures. It was only after suffering one failure after another that Sanders finally succeeded in making a meager living running a gas station in the mountains of Kentucky during the Great depression.
He turned his cooking skills into a successful roadside restaurant and shortly thereafter a new expressway diverted the traffic from his remote town. Sanders was ruined. Age age 66, Sanders had a choice. Either give up and have self-pity, or accept it and rise to the challenge.
Living on $105 a month from social security, he drove from one state to another, stopping at every restaurant he came across and offered to cook dinner for the owner. As soon as the owner had tasted Sander’s special Kentucky Fried Chicken, Sanders would offer to exchange his recipe for one nickel on every chicken the restaurant owner sold. Ten years later, Sanders had built an empire of 600 franchises and he later sold to Pepsico in 1986 for $840 million.
The story of Colonel Sanders shows us that no matter how old you are or what you have or have not accomplished, it’s never too late to be successful and develop the capacity to lead. One of the first steps is to always be working on ourselves. If we want to lead others and be successful, we have to be continually learning and growing. If we want to improve as a leader, then we have to be constantly working on certain personality traits. Next week, we’ll talk about some of those traits that lend themselves to successful lives and leading others.
Have an awesome weekend.
