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By Lesia Paine-Brooks
Johnson City Press Business Writer
lpbrooks@johnsoncitypress.com
MILLIGAN COLLEGE — Chick-Fil-A President/CEO Dan T. Cathy told Milligan College students Tuesday that there’s no such thing as business ethics — only personal ones.
“Remember, whatever it is you choose to do in your private life does come to the light of day over time in your professional one. Just look at the Martha Stewart scandal,” said Cathy, who was delivering the keynote address for Milligan’s “Leaders in Christian Service” convocation at Seeger Chapel.
Cathy, who heads the second generation of the Atlanta-based family business that was started in 1946 by his father, Trip Cathy, said the same things that were important in business then remain just as true today.
“Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sundays, because my father grew up living in the back room of a boarding house in Atlanta, Georgia, where every Sunday afternoon he spent the whole day washing dirty dishes. When he started his own business, he decided that he wouldn’t ask any employees of his to do what he hated doing himself,” Cathy said.
Although his business is often described as a Christian business, Cathy argues that there is no such thing as a Christian business, only Christian business owners.
“Jesus Christ didn’t die on a cross for General Electric or Microsoft or even Chick-Fil-A. He gave his life for you and for me,” Cathy said.
He said this realization came to him while spending 10 days in Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital after suffering extensive burns from a brush fire he ignited that raged out of control.
“While I was in the hospital, I couldn’t turn the pages in my Bible, and someone sent me the Bible being read on compact disc. As I lay there, it occurred to me that the business leaders I had admired, like GE’s Jack Welch, were not the models I should be using to set the standard for good business practices. Today, my business leadership model is Jesus Christ,” Cathy said.
Following Cathy’s address, “Leaders in Christian Service” awards were presented to the following 12 regional business leaders:
• Dr. Robbie Anderson, curriculum director for the Johnson City School System.
• Jeanette Blazier, mayor of Kingsport.
• Dr. Paul Brown, a Johnson City internal medicine physician.
• Betty Brown, an author, educator and consultant.
• Bill Derby, owner and publisher of The News and Neighbor weekly newspaper.
• Teri Ferguson, the nurse who founded the Parish Nurse program for Mountain States Health Alliance.
• Sam Greer, a retired plant manager for Mayfield Dairy Farms.
• Sally Greer, former hostess of First Christian Church who supports downtown community ministries.
• Tom Hornsby, an Eastman retiree who now owns VisionWorks.
• Dr. George Karnes, a dentist and founder of the TMJ Treatment Clinic in Johnson City.
• Carlyle Walton, president and CEO of Takoma Adventist Hospital.
• Clem Wilkes, an investment broker for Citizen Investment Services.
JOHNSON CITY PRESS ARTICLE