Businessman believes father-son relationship key to success
3/18/2003 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn. By J. Richard Peck* NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (UMNS) - The relationship between father and son is a key
ingredient in determining the type of man a person will become,
according to Cal Turner, chairman of Dollar General Corp.
Speaking
to 170 leaders of United Methodist Men's ministries, Turner, 62, said
he uses questions related to father-son relationships in evaluating
candidates for jobs with the company, which has more than 6,000 stores
in 27 states.
Turner spoke March 8 to conference presidents of
United Methodist Men, prayer advocates and hunger relief advocates. The
speech helped introduce six regional conferences on "Sons of the Father"
to be held later this year. Emphasizing the need for fathers to
raise their sons to become independent thinkers, Turner said he asks
job candidates how they are different from their fathers. He recalled a
conversation he had with his father, who co-founded the company with
Turner's grandfather in 1939.
After being named chief executive
officer in 1977, Turner said he developed a strategic plan to expand the
stores. His plan was to give the company to the people who have to run
it. "The person in the battle can tell the general how to win the war,"
he noted.
Under Turner's leadership, sales have grown from $100
million in 1977 to more than $5 billion today. The number of Dollar
General Stores doubled from 3,000 in 1997 to over 6,000 today.
Turner
said the only true measure of man is the stature of his children. "You
will never be the man your father was," he observed, "until you raise a
son as fine as you are."
An active member of Brentwood (Tenn.)
United Methodist Church, Turner said that while he felt called into the
ministry, he has found that he can do much as a Christian business man.
Through Dollar General's learning center stores, the company has provided training and jobs for 1,500 low-income people.
"Service to others is the business of Dollar General," he said.
Turner
has supported many Methodist causes, including the Community Cares
Homeless Shelter of the Kentucky Annual Conference and Kenya Methodist
University. He has also endowed a chair in Wesleyan studies at
Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The Commission on United Methodist
Men honored Turner by inducting him into the Society of John Wesley in
2001.
Regional "Sons of the Father" conferences will be held in
each jurisdiction from March 28 to Oct. 12. For additional information
on the "Sons of the Father" conferences, contact Larry Coppock at (615)
340-7149 or LCoppock@gcumm.org.
# # #
*Peck is communications director for the Commission on United Methodist Men in Nashville, Tenn.
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