Herman Cain recounts a story from one of his nationally known books, CEO of Self, where, just before being transferred to becoming VP of operations for Burger King, he faced the difficult task of having to let go one of the worst assistant managers he’d ever seen. The decision was easy: the execution, arduous, because the young man, though he clearly did not have an ounce talent or like for his job, was clearly devastated.
“He broke down, he cried, he hated to lose his job,” Herman recounted. “And I said, ‘What? How did you end up in Burger King anyway? You don’t love this kind of work, you’re not good at it, why did you end up here?’ He said, ‘Well, it was the only job I could get when I got out of college.’ And I said, ‘Well why did you stick with it?’. . .’Well. . .got married, started having kids, I needed a job. I couldn’t change because I couldn’t afford to’. . .they kept giving him little bitty increases and stuff like that. . .”
It turned out that Herman’s decision had already been made and his only best recourse for both parties was to simply let the young man go.
“After he got through the emotional part and everything,” Herman finished. “He said, ‘Well I don’t know what to do’, and I said, ‘Well let’s figure out what you should do’ and I started to probe and say well, ‘What things do you enjoy the most? What do you enjoy? If you are fortunate enough to end up in a profession relative to something that you enjoy, guess what, you’re going to succeed at it because that will then allow you to cultivate your natural ability with your learned ability! The two go hand-in-hand!”
Turns out the now former-employee had a passion for fixing electronics. Herman contacted a friend who was in human resources at Honeywell Computer Systems. Honeywell invited the man over, ran some aptitude tests and discovered he was the perfect fit to fix computer systems at the industry. He was hired, excelled at the job, and never looked back.
Today, Herman spreads his inspiration and common-sense conservative ideals through radio on the The Herman Cain Show”</a> broadcast from Atlanta 7 to 10 PM EST; his newspaper columns at NORTHSTAR NATIONAL</a> , has expressed his experiences and beliefs in 4 books, Leadership Is Common Sense (1997), Speak As A Leader (1999), CEO of SELF (October, 2001), and They Think You’re Stupid (May, 2005), and is aiming to push the country to the right in November through the influence of his Hermanator PAC.
Born on December 3, 1945 in Atlanta Georgia, WIKIPEDIA Herman first positioned himself for success by graduating with a mathematics degree from Morehouse University in 1967 (HERMAN CAIN). He then earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Purdue University while working as a mathematician for the Department of the Navy. He started his ascent in the corporate world by working as a business analyst for the Coca Cola company. He married his wife, Gloria, in 1968 and the couple have 2 adult children.
Herman achieved explosive success when he went to work for the Pillsbury Company in 1977 and became Vice President of Corporate Systems and Services within 3 years at the young age of 34. After that, he went straight up to the top. He decided to tackle the restaurant industry in the 1980s, starting from the ground up by making hamburgers at Pillsbury’s Burger King division. Nine months later, he was managing 400 Burger King units in the Philadelphia region, the country’s poorest performer and within three years his region had earned the reputation for excellence and was the company’s best.
In 1986, Pillsbury promoted Herman to the presidency of struggling Godfather’s Pizza, Inc. chain headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. In 14 months, under the new leadership, Godfather’s regained profitability. In 1988, Herman led an executive buyout of Godfather’s from Pillsbury and subsequently was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association; in 1994 to 1995, he also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Herman additionally appointed to serve on the Economic Growth and Tax Reform Commission in addition to serving as Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and also served as the senior adviser to the 1996 Dole/Kemp campaign for the Presidency.
An accomplished speaker, writer, and motivator, Herman has a litany of awards and degrees, too numerous to mention here. I was inspired when he sat down with me this week after his radio show and was able to articulate the things that were the most important to him in his current life, and what it is that has helped drive him to the pinnacle of his life and profession.
Herman’s interview can be found at: CONSERVATIVEFEATURES.COM
