David Salyers defines remarkable at ExxonMobile Lecture Series!
David Salyers was one of the original two marketing executives at Chick-fil-A. He spent 37 years in the Chick-fil-A Marketing Department and most recently served as a Vice President before his recent retirement. Having worked at Chick-fil-A his entire career, he saw the principles of servant leadership and compassion play out in the growth of more than 2,300 Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country. Chick-fil-A, one of America’s most successful, powerful and beloved brands, is a multi-billion dollar company built almost entirely on culture. Chick-fil-A has experienced over 50 consecutive years of sales growth and is at, or near, the top rankings of U.S. brands across all sectors. David has invested his entire career working in and helping to build a culture only to be described as remarkable.
Having graduated from college on a Saturday morning, David started his career with Chick-fil-A before the day was over. David started in Chick-fil-A’s training program on his graduation day in 1981, whose headquarters was located in a converted air freight warehouse at that time. “Talk about getting in on the ground floor,” says David. “I’ve held so many jobs at Chick-fil-A that I can’t count them all . . . and no job that I’ve held had ever been done before I did it. When I started at Chick-fil-A, we had a two-person marketing department. Today, we have more than 200 people in our marketing department, we have a 97 percent retention with people we hire throughout the company — and we’ll do $10 billion in sales this year.”
Over the course of 20+ years, David was instrumental in the growth and development of the iconic ‘cow campaign’ at Chick-fil-A and helped champion a marketing department that rose to international prominence and prestige. David is known for his marketing mind, his servant’s heart, and his entrepreneurial spirit.
His 2016 book, Remarkable, in which he co-wrote with Dr. Randy Ross, imparts leadership lessons that can transform one’s workplace culture. David is the co-founder of Champion Tribes, which exists to help fathers and sons connect in meaningful ways.
David attended Wake Forest University, the Universidad de Madrid (Madrid, Spain), and graduated from the University of Georgia. He is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School (AMP166).
What organization doesn’t want to create more sales? But truly Remarkable organizations aren’t focused on increasing sales, they’re focused on creating raving fans. Raving fans are people who 1) are happy to pay full price, 2) come more often and 3) tell other people about your organization. In this talk, Former Chick-fil-A Marketing VP David Salyers recounts Chick-fil-A’s biggest successes and shares the principles and strategies behind those successes that you can use to connect deeply with customers, who ultimately demand and fund your business growth.
How many businesses do you come across in a day that are just plain unremarkable? They have nothing unique that sets them apart from their competitors, and they exist only to extract value from their customers. To put it simply, there’s nothing about these types of organizations that’s worth remarking about.
But what if we could shift the paradigm? What if we could truly understand what makes certain businesses “remarkable” and apply those principles to our own organizations? In this signature talk, David Salyers powerfully does just that. In “Remarkable,” David will walk through how the shift from extracting value from other people to creating value for other people can radically change your business and the impact it will make to your customers, employees, stakeholders and even your bottom line. Exploring key themes on culture, values, and mission, “Remarkable” is an engaging and memorable speech that has the potential to impact you and your organization to the very core.
Every business exists to make money; there’s no question about that. However, the bigger question is - is that all your business exists to do? The reality is that most businesses don’t have a purpose beyond financial success, and the result is that they become commodities that can be easily replicated or, worse still, easily forgotten.
However, what the world’s greatest organizations know is that having a purpose beyond money is one of the most critical components of lasting success. In “Meaningful,” David masterfully shares how great brands attach meaning to their basic product and service offerings, which in turn multiplies the value they are creating for customers. Using compelling service and marketing examples from businesses like Chick-fil-A, Nike, The Ritz Carlton, and Uber, “Meaningful” will both inspire and instruct your organization to think beyond making marginally more money, and instead to realizing your limitless potential.
What is the purpose of great leadership? Is it to have the most power? Get the most credit? Have the most followers? Be the best? Or is it something deeper, richer… Is it to create a lasting impact for your organization that is far greater than you and lasts far beyond the scope of your life?
In this memorable leadership talk, David explores the connections between leadership, stewardship, and culture, and discusses the idea that each of our “leadership calling” is to be good stewards. Using powerful visual examples as well as concepts from the world of physics, David shares how a leadership mindset focused on service, collaboration, and inspiration can create a wave for good that will impact your organization - and maybe even the world - in an unforgettable way.