{"id":724,"date":"2011-11-14T15:56:21","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T21:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/?p=724"},"modified":"2011-11-14T15:56:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T21:56:21","slug":"distinguished-speakers-series-2011-cheryl-bachelder-ceo-of-popeyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/2011\/11\/14\/distinguished-speakers-series-2011-cheryl-bachelder-ceo-of-popeyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Distinguished Speakers Series 2011: Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeye’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, Nov. 3rd, the ACU community had a unique opportunity to hear from the President and CEO of AFC Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen. Cheryl Bachelder is many things – a mom, a wife, a female, a successful CEO, a brand manager, a gifted speaker and teacher<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Cheryl Bachelder, President of Popeye's and CEO of AFC Enterprises, Inc.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mrs. Bachelder guest lectured in our 9:30am Consumer Behavior class. EJ Johnson is a senior marketing major from Frisco. He said, “I truly enjoyed the class with Mrs. Bachelder today! Her work hits close to home as I am a Louisiana Creole and run the largest social media organization for Louisiana Creoles in the nation.” Bachelder spoke about the rebranding of Popeye’s and how she is leading the company by helping find its ‘true north’ – going back to the company’s roots and the things that made the food unique and special.<\/p>\n

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Consumer Behavior students listen to guest lecturer and Distinguished Speaker Cheryl Bachelder<\/p><\/div>\n

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Bachelder teaching<\/p><\/div>\n

After the class, Bachelder addressed an audience of over 300 at our 2011 Distinguished Speaker Series luncheon in the Hunter Welcome Center. After discussing the how the brand has performed over the last three years (world’s second largest quick service chicken concept based on the number of units) and is expanding rapidly overseas, Bachelder discussed how character, competence and motive <\/em>are essential traits in successfully leading in the marketplace. She challenged the audience to lead by serving – and to evaluate and define their purpose and principles.<\/p>\n

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Bachelder speaking at Distinguished Speakers Series luncheon<\/p><\/div>\n

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At the conclusion of her talk, Bachelder answered questions that were submitted via text messaging. We received a large number of questions and she was only able to answer about 3 or 4 before we had to wrap up the luncheon event. We emailed her the remaining questions and she’s provided her responses below:<\/p>\n

> As I hear you stressing the importance of having leaders with right motives and character, what strategies would you recommend for a future college grad to use when looking to work for a company with leaders that uphold these qualities?
\n<\/strong>I would encourage you to find out all you can about the leader of the team or department you would be working for.\u00a0 What is their leadership style?\u00a0 Is it driven by personal ambition or by ambition for the enterprise?\u00a0 What values can you detect?\u00a0 How do they treat people?\u00a0 What adjectives do people use to describe them?\u00a0 What are their interests\/passions outside of work?\u00a0 Are they direct, candid, transparent?\u00a0 Are they willing to admit mistakes or expose vulnerability? If the company has a vision, mission, and\/or values statement\u2026ask them how they would explain it.\u00a0 Is it a plaque or does it have real meaning to the individual?\u00a0 I would also investigate the CEO of the company\u2026.read every article about them and explore what they mean to purpose and principles.\u00a0 The top leader sets the direction and sets the cultural norms.\u00a0 If you find concerns in the top leader, they will likely result in dysfunction somewhere in the enterprise.\u00a0 And conversely, if the top leader has a positive leadership motive, you can expect that will positively influence decisions that are made in the company.<\/p>\n

> Can you elaborate on the Isaiah verse about grasshoppers? In what ways are we like grasshoppers?
\n<\/strong>New International Version (\u00a91984) “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.”<\/em> Isaiah 40:22a. \u00a0I lean into this verse as a constant reminder of my humble role in God\u2019s kingdom. The Creator of the universe is so much greater than I. I am merely one of his \u201cgrasshoppers.\u201d I intend to be the very best grasshopper I can be, but I don\u2019t want to lose sight of the fact, that God\u2019s plan is far more encompassing and huge than any plan my small mind could think up. So for me, grasshopper= humility.<\/p>\n

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> How do you incorporate Christian values into a publicly held company? Legally…
\n<\/strong>I believe all leaders, with faith or not, bring their values into the workplace\u2026so values are something we can and should discuss in the workplace. To work together effectively, we must know one another well.\u00a0 This requires time invested in building relationships with people and treating people with care and respect.\u00a0 If people know you well and believe that the work environment is a healthy one of candid conversations, they become open to values conversations.\u00a0 There is nothing illegal about discussing values like honesty, respect, and accountability.\u00a0 In fact, these conversations are essential\u2026values conflicts will hurt the performance of the team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For sharing faith, I have found the best approach is to live out your faith in your day to day actions.\u00a0 People will then see something special and genuine about you, and they will want to know more about it.\u00a0 If you are a content person, because of the peace you have found in faith, you will stand out from other discontented, anxious people.\u00a0 You will be asked where your peace comes from.\u00a0 If you have experienced trials and shared them with people, they will learn how you coped with those trials.\u00a0 They will be interested in hearing your story, including your faith lessons.<\/p>\n

But importantly, no one will be open to hearing about your beliefs, if you have not invested in building an authentic friendship with them over time.\u00a0 Only in the safety of this relationship, do you have the opportunity to share your perspective and impact lives. Focus on building relationships, and this will bring forward the God-given opportunities to share your faith with others.<\/p>\n

> How much of a role does technology play in your business? How do you leverage new technologies, such as iphones or ipads?
\n<\/strong>Technology plays a role, but perhaps not as large a role as other businesses.\u00a0 We use technology to track and analyze our business.\u00a0 We use sophisticated point of sale terminals that collect data on every purchase in a restaurant and allow us to analyze results and opportunities for improvements.\u00a0 We now use \u201ccloud\u201d type web solutions for collecting data and analyzing it, because it is cost-effective to do so.\u00a0 We have tools that allow us to track restaurant video cameras 24\/7 on our ipads so that we can see what is going on at any time. And of course, like you, we communicate 24\/7 with our PDAs\u2026email and text.\u00a0 That allows us to work constantly, even on vacationJ.<\/p>\n

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> What was your best learning experience at a former employer that you have used at Popeye’s?
\n<\/strong>There are three learning experiences that I have applied at Popeyes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ROADMAP:\u00a0 The\u00a0 leader must express a very clear picture of where the company is headed.\u00a0 We call that our roadmap for results.\u00a0 It gives the goal and the strategy we must pursue to be successful in our industry.\u00a0 We talk about these four goals and four strategies at every single communication opportunity so that the \u201cdestination\u201d becomes well understood\u2026.and all people can contribute.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0SUCCEED:\u00a0 The leader must be tenacious about helping the organization reach the goals, the destination.\u00a0 Failure is not an option.\u00a0 A winning team has to win.\u00a0 The leader has a responsibility to competently lead the people to successful performance, and to stop them from doing things that could interfere with getting to the goals.\u00a0 Without succeeding, the leader has let down the organization.\u00a0 Competence is a character trait.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ENVIRONMENT:\u00a0 The leader must create a healthy environment for people to grow and develop.\u00a0 It must be an environment of high trust, constructive conflict, candid communication, sincere concern for people.\u00a0 Without these traits, the environment is \u201ctoxic\u201d to people; they do not thrive; they do not advance and grow, and eventually that holds back the capability of the company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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> Could you tell us what kind of challenges you face as a female CEO in a big company such as Popeye’s?
\n<\/strong>The challenges I face are fewer than you might think.\u00a0 But that reflects the fact that I chose this company (and this industry) because it is a good place for women to develop and lead.\u00a0 My Board is very supportive of my leadership and I believe they value and respect my contributions.\u00a0 My shareholders have focused on my results, and appear indifferent to my gender.\u00a0 My team members and franchisees have been open to my leadership, and over time, I believe have gotten to know me well and respect my approach.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, there is a truly funny event.\u00a0 Like the time I went to Japan to help negotiate an acquisition.\u00a0 The Japanese executives assumed that I was at the meeting to take notes, so they offered me a lovely gift of writing pens with perfume in them.\u00a0 My team found this amusing, but I accepted the gift, and we moved on without incident.<\/p>\n

Are their awkward times as a female CEO?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 People are often uncomfortable around me at first.\u00a0 They probably don\u2019t know what to expect.\u00a0 They may have some assumptions about how female leaders lead.\u00a0 They may assume that I am unmarried and have no children. They may assume I do not have faith in God.\u00a0 So I make it my mission to reach out first with a warm, approachable conversation.\u00a0 I often share personal stories about my family as an ice breaker.\u00a0 I often hold back announcing my \u201ctitle\u201d until asked or after we\u2019ve established rapport.\u00a0 It is still very unusual in our culture to be a female CEO.\u00a0 There are only four female chain restaurant CEOs.\u00a0 So I think that means I have to help people get past that first awkward moment.<\/p>\n

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> How has female leadership changed\/improved the enterprise?
\n<\/strong>I do believe women are created differently than men, and that is a good thing.\u00a0 Women, as a group, have strong relationship skills.\u00a0 They are sensitive to people\u2019s needs and are often, very responsive and caring.\u00a0 This contributes to a healthy workplace where people are valued and treated well.\u00a0 Women are often more candid and transparent in business discussions.\u00a0 They cut to the chase.\u00a0 They are less guarded.\u00a0 This contributes to a more open dialog of the real issues, and it saves time.\u00a0 Women often have strong business instincts that deserve further exploration.\u00a0 This more intuitive thinking leads to more creativity around innovation and problem solving.\u00a0 Lastly, I\u2019ve noticed that women juggle many tasks well, and as such, they are often highly productive and help others figure out how to juggle as well.\u00a0 These are broad generalizations, but my experience has been that teams with a blend of men and women perform particularly well.\u00a0 Gallup research supports this.\u00a0 They found teams that were 50\/50 male\/female outperformed teams that skewed either male or female.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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> What is the best way to get people on board to help you start up and fund your business plan?
\n<\/strong>The first thing is to have a thorough, thoughtful and complete business plan.\u00a0 I\u2019m amazed at how many business proposals I have been given that were thinly prepared.\u00a0 No one will invest in something that they do not understand or that they cannot see a path towards performance results.\u00a0 When developing a business plan, take it in \u201cdraft\u201d form to many experienced business people and ask them what you are missing.\u00a0 Asking for feedback, then filling the gaps will results in a much stronger presentation for your potential investors.\u00a0 The second recommendation is to have some \u201cproof of concept.\u201d\u00a0 You need some data that supports your premise.\u00a0 If you want to own a restaurant, you may want to cater for a few months to demonstrate that people love your food and service\u2026and it generates repeat customers.\u00a0 As the saying goes, \u201cthe proof is in the pudding.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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> If the most competent people in your business lack good character, what should you do as a servant leader?
\n<\/strong>The first step is to be sure you have set crystal clear expectations for character traits and that you have given the leader an opportunity to adjust to these new expectations.\u00a0 You will know by how much\u00a0effort<\/span>\u00a0the individual takes to change their own behavior.\u00a0 If they make significant effort, and the team is noticing progress, you can afford to give them more time.\u00a0 If they do not make effort and it is obvious to the team that they do not share the character traits, you must confront the situation.\u00a0 This person, left in place, will essentially message to your organization that the character traits really don\u2019t matter, or else this person would not be allowed to continue.\u00a0 This is a cancer on the team and will hold back their performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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One caveat:, I am constantly amazed at how many people have been \u201ctrained\u201d by leaders without strong character traits.\u00a0 The result is that a person shuts down their own character traits and operates at work by the leader\u2019s \u201crules.\u201d\u00a0 They do not\u00a0share<\/span>\u00a0the leader\u2019s values, but they fear that they must simply conform or be fired.\u00a0 Therefore, you must assure your employees that your character traits are genuinely desired and that they are in a safe environment to become more authentic in their actions.\u00a0 By seeing this situation, I have been able to turnaround a few of these situations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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> How did you change the environment without being another flavor of the month?
\n<\/strong>Good question.\u00a0 I think many people DID view me as \u201cflavor of the month\u201d when I came to Popeyes.\u00a0 I was the seventh CEO in about 10 years.\u00a0 What else would they think?\u00a0 This made it very important for me to act with consistency in everything that I did, so that over time, trust would build.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I think that our business culture and financial markets have allowed this short term, flip-the-leader environment to develop and it is not healthy for any business entity.\u00a0 High performance comes from strong deep rooted leadership teams (trust).\u00a0 Trust builds from stable, consistent business plans and culture, not from short flips for financial gain.\u00a0 And legacy companies understand this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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> What should I do when I have a passion I feel God has called me to? Witness through as also a business…but no one in my family supports it at all. (verbatim text, not totally sure what her second question\/statement is saying exactly)
\n<\/strong>God gives us our unique strengths and our gifts\u2026.and out of those talents, he provides us opportunities to serve him\u2026our calling, if you will. As you read the Bible, you find many Biblical leaders had to pursue their God-given calling, despite the opposition of their friends and families.\u00a0 This is really hard to do.\u00a0 I urge you to spend much time in unhurried conversation with God to be sure you hear his calling clearly.\u00a0 This affirmation from God is critical if you receive a lot of conflicting feedback from others.\u00a0 I have experienced this at a very personal level.\u00a0 There are many people who think it is wrong that I have worked, while raising a family.\u00a0 There are many people, including a few of my pastors, that challenged whether I had accurately understood my calling.\u00a0 In my case, my brother has challenged my calling on a regular basis.\u00a0 Like you, I yearn for the love and support of my friends and family.\u00a0 But at the end of the day, my calling is between me and God, and I must be obedient to \u00a0Him.\u00a0 When I am obedient to his call on my life, he blesses me with peace, that can only come from Him.<\/p>\n

> How do you make time for your family?
\n<\/strong>I plan my time with my family, just like I plan work projects.\u00a0 This may seem a bit clinical at first, but it is the way that I ensure I block out meaningful time for meaningful conversations and experiences with my family. \u00a0And I rarely allow business to override these commitments to my family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Examples\u2026I always plan my vacations for the full year ahead\u2026so that we can plan, talk, and think about the next fun time we will all be together for a week.\u00a0 I plan dinners at home for my husband, daughter and I to eat together, not every day, but about 3 times a week\u2026where we have unhurried time to connect, share and talk about our weeks.\u00a0 I have an \u201ciron rule\u201d that I will talk to my husband every day no matter where I am in the world to make sure we stay close and in conversation.\u00a0 Now that my two oldest children have left home, I make sure to call them once a week and send a thoughtful email once a week to encourage them.\u00a0 I also plan trips to visit my daughters when we can have one on one mother-daughter time.\u00a0 I just did a three day weekend retreat with my 20 year old and we both were better for it!\u00a0 Deep rooted connections are essential to family.\u00a0 I value them and I plan them to make sure I don\u2019t lose sight of that important value.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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> Is Chic Fil A included in your QSR?
\n<\/strong>Chick Fil A is considered a quick service restaurant, but not a\u00a0chicken<\/span>\u00a0quick service restaurant.\u00a0 For some reason, the independent research firm categorizes them as a sandwich competitor\u2026like a burger chain.\u00a0 We compare our performance to both chicken QSR and total QSR so that we stay aware of their performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0>Do you have a daily routine to help keep you organized and focused?
\n<\/strong>I have more of a weekly routine and quarterly routine.\u00a0 I plan out my life in 3-4 month blocks so that I can see the \u201clong view\u201d and make sure my priorities are on my calendar.\u00a0 I then have a weekly meeting with myself to work on the details of that particular week.\u00a0 That is when I put my exercise, quiet times,\u00a0 and family connection points on the calendar.\u00a0 My goal is to honor my calendar to a grade of B+.\u00a0 It will never be perfectly balanced.\u00a0 I will have to make some tough trade-off decisions, but on the whole, I need to believe that my time is primarily working on the most important things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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> How do you balance family life and your career?
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s important to allow yourself to be\u00a0imperfect<\/span>\u00a0and to have a sense of humor.\u00a0 Some days are not balanced at all.\u00a0 Some days miraculously come together.\u00a0 Maybe in heaven I\u2019ll experience perfect balance, but in the meantime I am a flawed human being that aspires to be better at living my life obediently to God\u2019s purpose.\u00a0 So I am deeply grateful for the GRACE and FORGIVENESS given by a merciful God.\u00a0 And when it gets really bad, I watch old DVD episodes of I Love Lucy and laugh out loud.<\/p>\n

We are so grateful to Mrs. Bachelder, for the gift of her time, talent, passion and advice. Join us in showing her our gratitude by heading to a Popeye’s and enjoying some chicken, red beans and rice and a biscuit – Louisiana fast!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, Nov. 3rd, the ACU community had a unique opportunity to hear from the President and CEO of AFC Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen. Cheryl Bachelder is many things – a mom, a wife, a female, a successful CEO, a brand manager, a gifted speaker and teacher. Mrs. Bachelder guest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7012,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2801,2758,2750,6629,6627,2761],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coba-events","category-college-decisions","category-current-students","category-distinguished-speakers-series","category-faith-infusion","category-special-speakers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":734,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}