Wealth: Is It Worth It?

Wealth: Is It Worth It? by S. Truett Cathy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

S. Truett Cathy, the author of this book, has taught Sunday School in the town I grew up in Jonesboro, GA, for many years. Several of my high school classmates work for the corporate office in GA. I have admired Mr. Cathy for many years. He is not only a great business man but also a great Christian man. This book is his philosophy of wealth. I feel his thoughts are very close to that of the Bible. This is an easy read book. As you will see below there are quotes from lots of people. I trust you will enjoy these quotes:

Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get.  ~Warren Buffett

No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.  ~Henry Ward Beecher

To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.  ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.    ~Thomas Edison

If it takes seven days to make a living, you ought to be doing something else.   ~S. Truett Cathy

Ringing the cash register is not the name of the game. It’s only the scorekeeper, and it’s not what motivates me. I’m motivated in my business by the compliments I receive about our people, our service, and the quality of our food.   ~S. Truett Cathy

Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life.  ~S. Truett Cathy

In most cases we perform better when we’re busy than when we’re not busy. When we’re slow, our mind wanders. We’re not as attentive to our business. When we’re on the firing line, we’re sharper. We move more quickly and get the job done right. ~S. Truett Cathy

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of it filling a vacuum, it makes one.  ~Benjamin Franklin

If you’re excited about what you’re doing, it’s a lot more likely that your employees will also be excited. People want to work for a person, not a company. It’s about relationships.  ~S. Truett Cathy

Opportunity presents itself sometimes in unusual situations. What you think is the worst thing turns out to be a good thing.  Different circumstances challenge people to do things they didn’t know they could do, and in those times when the outlook appears the worst, we find new reasons for optimism.  ~S. Truett Cathy

You know what ego stands for: Edging Out God!  ~S. Truett Cathy


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Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People

Eat Mor Chikin: Inspire More People by S. Truett Cathy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

S. Truett Cathy is not only a great business man but he is indeed a great godly man. If you want to learn more about Mr. Truett and more about the beginning of Chick-fil-A then this is the book for you. I trust you will enjoy the quotes from this book:


The lesson that is continually reinforced in me is that to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, we must leave ourselves available. If we had set lofty long-range goals for our company’s [Chick-fil-A’s] growth, our capital might have been so tied up in construction that we would have been unable to respond to these opportunities [WinShape Centre Foundation, which supports foster homes, summer camps, and college scholarships].  ~S. Truett Cathy


Harvard Business School Press in 1996 published a book titled The Loyalty Effect, which showed the correlation between loyalty and corporate profits. The author, Frederick F. Reichheld, stated, “Businesses that concentrate on finding and keeping good customers, productive employees, and supportive investors continue to generate superior results. …[Loyalty] remains one of the great engines of business success.”

“Loyalty leaders,” Mr. Reichheld wrote, “see people as assets rather than expenses, and they expect those assets to pay returns over a period of many years. Loyalty leaders choose human assets carefully, then find ways to extend their productive lifetimes and increase their value.”  ~S. Truett Cathy

My style has always been low-key with regard to my religious convictions. I hope that people see something attractive in the way I live that leads them to seek the One who leads me. In my own personal way I had committed the company to His purpose but had not done so publicly.

It became obvious that the [Executive] Committee was moving toward doing just that. By the end of the day we had developed two statements, which became Click-fil-A Corporate Purpose:

To glorify God by being faithful stewards of all that is entrusted to us.

To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.
~S. Truett Cathy

Instruction is what we say.
Influence is what we do.
Image is what we are.  ~S. Truett Cathy

But look at what it means to be average. You are the worst of the best and the best of the worst. You’re not achieving anything unusual, choosing instead to go with the flow. When we do less than our best, we become discontent and “burned out.” Occasionally, I will have an Operator offer to terminate the franchise agreement with the explanation, “I’m just burned out on the restaurant business.”    ~S. Truett Cathy

It is when we stop doing our best work that our enthusiasm for the job wanes. We must motivate ourselves to do our very best, and by our example lead others to do their best as well. People like to follow those who are excited about their work, not workaholics. ~S. Truett Cathy

My attitude regarding the distant future is to do the best we can every day and take advantage of unexpected opportunities. That combination will lead us to success. I don’t want to set some arbitrary target out there that might lead us to make inappropriate decisions just to achieve it.  ~S. Truett Cathy


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