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"How well you live your life is largely determined by your attitude toward other people."
~Cal Turner Jr.
Cal Turner Jr. has had a pretty full life. The first in his family to graduate college, he also obtained his pilot license, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and came back home to join his father in the family business by the age of 25. He served as CEO of the Dollar General Corp. for 37 years.
In his book, Cal Jr. offers the story of his journey, business advice and even family turmoil. His grandfather, who he considers one of the smartest men he ever knew, was also seen as the hardest-working young man around when he was running his family's farm. "My Father's Business" covers life in the early 1900s through to Cal Jr.'s time as CEO at Dollar General.
Luther Turner, Cal Jr.'s grandfather, is where the story (and the business) begins. When his father died, Luther Turner was only 11. To help support his family, he dropped out of school in third grade to work the family farm. A hard worker with great common sense, he still assumed that everybody he met was smarter than he was and that he could learn something from everyone. Cal Jr. adapted this as part of his leadership style.
In 1939, Luther Turner opened J.L. Turner and Son, the business that would later become the Dollar General. The Turners understood the customers because they were country folk just like them. They knew that basic value was the key; give people things they need at prices they can afford.
Cal Turner took the knowledge he learned from his father and the wisdom he'd gained in helping in the family business since he was a young boy and turned the stores into something new. He saw big businesses having success through dollar days and wondered why not all day every day? So that's just what he decided to do. Large department stores already catered to the rich. He would market to the people he knew and understood, offering everything he could at a dollar. This new general store became the Dollar General.
It's apparent that Cal Jr. and his father got their financial smarts and good business sense honest. Cal Jr. sought to empower everyone from the boardroom to the newest store members, aiming for a better company that was always striving to give the best value to their customers. "Bossism" was never his style. According to Cal Jr., leadership overcomes a boss mentality every time. A boss gets results, while a leader gets development.
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