“𝑫𝑶 𝑮𝑶𝑶𝑫 — 𝑻𝑶𝑮𝑬𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹.” ❤️

Our first business visit of the year took Edwardsville CEO to Chick-fil-A Edwardsville, where Owner/Operator, Phillip Brunner, and his wife, Stephanie, gave our students a lesson that went far beyond business.

Yes, we talked about entrepreneurship, leadership, culture, and what it takes to build a successful organization.

But the biggest lesson?

𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 — 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

Phillip and Stephanie challenged our students with some powerful reminders:

❤️ 𝘿𝙤 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.
👥 Take care of your people — 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.
👀 As you focus on what’s ahead of you, 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 and help bring others along.
🧭 𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣. Know your values and stand by them.
✨ And perhaps most importantly: 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙘𝙮.

Our students are just beginning a year that will challenge them to think about the businesses they might build, careers they might pursue, and leaders they want to become.

Today was a reminder to also think about something bigger:

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝑬𝑶𝑷𝑳𝑬 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖?

A huge thank you to Phillip, Stephanie, and the entire Chick-fil-A Edwardsville team for the hospitality, breakfast, wisdom, and continued investment in our students and the CEO program.

Here’s to a year of learning, growing, bringing others along…and finding ways to 𝐃𝐎 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑.❤️🐮

Chick-fil-A Phillip Brunner