Podcast Name: Practicing the Art of Faithful PresenceEpisode 24: Cheryl Bachelder – A CEO whose Recipe for Success is Serving Others

In this episode, podcast host Dr. David Wright speaks with Cheryl Bachelder, a restaurant industry executive and former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc.

At the outset, Cheryl explains the story of how she became the CEO of Popeye’s Louisiana Chicken. As a member of the board of directors for Popeye’s, she was serving on the search committee to replace a recently departed CEO. After offering the job to two executives who declined, Cheryl’s fellow board members ask her to fill the role.

She notes the significance of this by explaining that she was fired as the CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken. She suspected she would never be a CEO again. But the lessons learned from that failure produced the confidence needed to approach the role of CEO at Popeye’s in a very different manner. During her 10 years as CEO of Popeye’s, the restaurant was rebranded and resurrected from a tired organization with many unhappy employees to one of remarkable success. Profits doubled, 1,000 new restaurants were built and market share grew 75% making Popeye’s a fierce competitor in the quick-service restaurant market.

Cheryl shares her faith story which includes an incredible heritage of faith among her family. She tells of becoming a Christian at age 13, but also realizes that the journey as a Christian is one of continual learning and growing. She remarks that she is a very different kind of Christian today than she was when she was 13, or 22 or 42. It is a continuous journey of becoming more obedient to Christ.

Returning to the workplace, Chery talks about what it was like to lead as one of the few, or only, women at the executive leadership level. In addition, she felt called to be in the secular workplace. “I felt it was my call to be on the mission field of the marketplace – not to pass out information about Christianity, but to live in a fashion that would draw curiosity toward the Christian faith.” She speaks about her motivation for writing her book, “Dare to Serve” which provides a case study for how servant leadership can drive successful results. Many authors have written about servant leadership, but she wanted to write a book that explained how it was lived out – and worked.

In closing, Cheryl provides thoughts about the election (as this podcast was recorded the day before American voted), advice for young women leaders, and she answered the question of how best to nurture your hope and optimism for the future within the world today.

Learn more about Cheryl Bachelder. Learn more about Practicing the Art of Faithful Presence.Learn more about host David Wright.