Tim Hiller Interview

On this months episode we will meet Tim Hiller. In addition to being a follower of Christ, Tim is a husband, father to two, author of the book “Strive, Life is Short, Pursue What Matters”, a motivational speaker, a former NFL quarterback , and currently a Chick-fil-a franchise owner. 

Tim and his wife Michelle have both spent many years in sports and education where God has both grown them and used them in His service. Listen in as Tim talks about how God turned his life upside down and changed his focus. Tim is pointed and detailed on what it means to be a leader and to serve Christ in the marketplace. 

Resources mentioned in the podcast - 

• Tim's LinkedIn profile 
• Tim's website
• Tim's Wikipedia page 
• Tim's Book 

Transcript

Jason: 0:00

Welcome to the biblical leadership at work podcast. I am your host, Jason Woodard. On this month's episode, we will meet Tim Hiller. In addition to being a follower of Christ. Tim has a husband, father to two. Author of the book, strive life is short pursue what matters. And a motivational speaker. To Ms. Also a former NFL quarterback. And he and his wife currently are Chick-fil-A franchise owners. He and his wife, Michelle have both spent many years in sports and education where God has both grown them and use them in his service. Listen in. And as we discuss public and private education, high school, college, and professional sports. And of course Chick-fil-A.

Tim: 0:47

Christ modeled foot washing right at the Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters. There's a statue of Jesus washing feet. Not too many companies, our size have a statue of Jesus washing feet in the lobby.

Jason: 0:57

Tim explains the key principles of his business.

Tim: 1:01

We're here to love, serve, and show genuine hospitality for every person.

Jason: 1:05

And Tim is also very clear on his own mission and purpose as a leader.

Tim: 1:10

I'm out here to just be excellent in my work. It's my own purpose to do everything in service to God, for the betterment of others. I think leadership is stewardship. And what I mean by that is stewardship just simply means to take care of something. And so if you're a leader. You take the utmost care of what's been entrusted to you.

Jason: 1:26

When Tim shares about his faith, he recounts how God led him. Through some very difficult times as an athlete. To shake up his world and to change. His focus.

Tim: 1:35

But in the final game of that season at Northern Illinois I suffered a really severe knee injury. And so I was all of a sudden in this situation where something I'd love, something I'd worked so hard to get something I'd poured a lot of time into was gone It was a really dark and hard time.

Jason: 1:47

Tim also shares what he sees as the biggest detriment to effective leadership in the world right now.

Tim: 1:52

And so if I ever see any crisis, I think it's that advancement of self or the advancement of results over the people under your care

Jason: 2:01

but even if someone is being led by a poor leader, Tim has words of advice to offer them.

Tim: 2:07

I like to remind them that you can learn something from everyone. And you can learn something from every leader. It might be a hard season, but you can take away a lot from this. And some of it will be good and some of it will be what not to do. And that is equally as valuable, as hard as it is right now.

Jason: 2:21

So join me today as. We meet Tim Heller. All right, Tim Hiller. Hey, thank you for joining us today. It's great to have you.

Tim: 2:33

Thanks. Jason honored to be here.

Jason: 2:35

So let's go ahead and dig right in. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself. You start off with your professional background. I know you have some really interesting history there, and then we'll talk about family and faith after that. Yeah.

Tim: 2:49

I appreciate it. Yeah. So I'll try to do the high level overview, but I grew up in Northeast Ohio. Us being in Michigan that may be fighting words for some coming from that state down south, but through a number that's right. Yeah. I grew up, rooting for the Buckeyes, but my wife's a Michigan fan and we both went to Western Michigan university in Kalamazoo. So that's the tie that binds in our household in the rivalry. But grew up in a small town in naming Orville, Ohio in the Akron Canton area. And a big part of my life was family and a big part of my life was athletics. It a sports crazy town with a lot of success, a lot of state titles. And and so that was a big part of my upbringing. My grandfather. Was a rose bowl champion in the 1950s, played at the university of Illinois and was a role model and someone that, that I aspired to be my son's named after him. So really kinda had a neat relationship there that, that fueled kinda that desire to, to play football and to be an athlete and things like that. Not that he ever pushed me to do it but just he modeled that right. He lived that out. And then growing up had a younger sibling a brother that currently lives in the Columbus Ohio area. And really my goal all throughout was to hopefully play sports at a higher level was something I was driven to do something I wanted to do. And through a number of circumstances ended up at Western Michigan university. I had some bigger opportunities but suffered a fractured collarbone at the end of my senior year, that kind of diminished some of those opportunities. And so I ended up didn't know, there was a Kalamazoo, Michigan didn't know that town existed, but through the Lord's Providence ended up there really because of the circumstances of adversity through that injury, and it ultimately ended up being a phenomen. Place for me, I was able to play early as a freshman. I faced a lot of challenges. I had a lot of injuries, which ultimately we'll get to that later. I'm sure. But ultimately really shaped my faith. Had a great experience playing at a mid-major program where we got to do some things on a national stage. We had some success, we had some talented guys around us and ultimately came to the Lord in college, which we'll get to as well. And then met my wife, Michelle, who played basketball. She was born and raised in Kalamazoo. She stayed home locally to go to school. And we met at Western and got engaged before our senior years. And we've been married now 12 years. So really that kind of. Journey of following God's plan through the vehicle of athletics led to a lot of really neat and different opportunities, both personally, as well as now, professionally. Beyond that as I mentioned, Michelle and I have been married 12 years, we currently live in grand rapids, Michigan. So we haven't stray too far from Kalamazoo. And we have two kids, Daniel who's seven Emma who's four. And as we'll talk about later have some corporate experience some coaching experience. I was a head football coach for a few years. But we currently own a Chick-fil-A franchise here in the grand rapids market. So we're the fourth store in grand rapids. The eighth in the west Michigan market, there are a couple others coming online here soon. And just neat to see how God has led to different experiences, different journeys through all these people you meet and things you do over the years.

Jason: 5:53

So when you, right after you graduated from Western where did you land career wise?

Tim: 5:59

Yeah, that's a great question. In 2009, my senior year, I was given an opportunity to attend the 2010 NFL combine. So I was one of 200 or so athletes invited to that. And so I took part in the combine and a couple of those senior all-star games that different guys who were trying to play professionally participate in I wasn't drafted, but I was signed UN drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. In 2010, I spent about eight or nine months there played in the preseason didn't end up making the final roster. And then I had some short practice squad type stints with the Chicago bears in new England Patriots and the Kansas city chiefs before it was all said and done. At the time it was done and in in 2010 and into 2011, the collective bargaining agreement wasn't renewed. And so there was a small lockout in the NFL. And so at that time I went back to school, I finished my MBA. I had about a semester to go. So I finished up my graduate degree that I had started at Western Michigan. And then from there that's when I transitioned into being high school head coach. So I worked for Golet community schools, which is right between Kalamazoo battle Creek. I was in a business administration capacity and then led the football program for four years, which is really fun. And then. The back half of that time, my last year coaching, I transitioned to striker corporation where I was there for about eight and a half, nine years in a variety of functions predominantly HR, talent development, leadership development, sales training spent some time in our service organization which I really enjoyed. And then I also was in sales when I was

Jason: 7:20

What was your undergraduate from Western Tim?

Tim: 7:23

yeah. I studied sales and business marketing. So the S BMA program, and then my master's degree, I focused in, on management.

Jason: 7:31

So you were working at the school and then you went to work for striker. You said you were there for about eight or nine years in various roles.

Tim: 7:37

Correct.

Jason: 7:38

Okay. So how did you go from striker to now being a Chick-fil-A owner? That's Chick-fil-A is like from a franchise standpoint is a really big deal to be able to do that. Talk to us a little bit about that journey, right?

Tim: 7:53

Yeah it's a long journey. I think if you would've asked me years ago, if I'd be in the industry I'd probably would've said no. And would've been surprised to tell you, Hey, I'm I'm in the quick service restaurant industry, but it's bigger than that I think in any business, no matter what you do, you're in the people business. And I think for me, I had done some research on it, but I was, it was of on the fence and had a couple friends and other connections who are also doing this and are with fortunate enough to be with Chick-fil-A, which is an amazing company. And we we'll chat more about that and our culture and our beliefs and values it's really an incredible place, but they said I just, I think you'd be good at this. You've got these different experiences of coaching high school football, working with young people business experience leadership you have an entrepreneurial spirit about you I've had my hand in a couple other ventures, even when I was at striker and it just, I think this just might make sense for you. And as I got closer to it spent some time volunteering spent some time in some stores tried to really do homework and research on the organization. In 2019, decided to give it a shot and see what happens. It's a very long and arduous vetting process from not just your financial background, but also Chick-fil-A wants to be they view it like marriage. They really want to be in a relationship and in a partnership with their franchisees and their business owners. They. Keep a hand in the decision making. It's not just something that you can come to the table and say, Hey, I have the capital and I'm gonna pick a site and I'm gonna build a building. It doesn't work that way. It's really a true partnership to make sure that there's a fit of values and character and a mutual fit. I I remember in the process it was clear that there was a lot of interest on their end. Obviously we were really interested in staying close to home. They said, Hey, we have an opportunity in Indiana, we'd like you to consider it. We'd like you to take a look at it. And we went, we checked it out and we said, you know what? I don't think this is for us. And they were still very supportive in that they wanted our family to feel good about the decision we were making. And it was a little

Jason: 9:51

Like the whole, the

Tim: 9:53

Correct. Yeah. And I that was just like very refreshing, right? It you felt a little afraid to say no to something that should be a good opportunity. I was worried it might damage the opportunity for us to do this. And it ended up not, it just took a little longer, but it ended up not. And I think that to me spoke volumes that the culture was real and the words that they said were true and things like that. It took me a little over two years, which compared to some is pretty fast in the long process that it is in terms of just again, looking at your finances, looking at your character, looking at your professional background, really evaluating who you are as a person to ensure that you're a good fit. So in 20, I think it was April of 2021. We found out it was gonna happen. And then we were supposed to open in September. We got open in October. So we've been open about nine months now.

Jason: 10:41

Wow. That's awesome. Did you work with the same group of people from start to finish from Chick-fil-A.

Tim: 10:48

In terms of the evaluation process?

Jason: 10:50

So when they were looking at you for the Indiana spot and you said, no, do you still work with the same group or same person all the way through to when they decided they have one more local for you?

Tim: 11:02

It's a great question. Chick-fil-A has a very robust and deep and super talented franchise selection team. So the early parts of the process are a bit automated in terms of just getting to know you seeing if you're a fit, obviously there's some personality testing, there's different things that a lot of large organizations use to just ensure fit and the right type of person, the right fit of person. But as you get on, it's a very personal process. I can't tell you how many times, whether it was virtual and pandemic times or in person you're sitting with an individual or a couple individuals for two, three hours. And I think a lot of it that I really appreciate was for consistency. There were times where you're asked the same questions. The thought process is that are you telling me what I want to hear? Or is this your consistent values or is this your consistent character? Later on, it gets a little more specific into markets and areas. And how do you know this area? What do you know about it? How would you grow a business here? Do you have a good plan to steward the business and grow it and grow sales and serve the community that you're in. Those strategic parts are really later in the process. You are, you work with a few different individuals, but it's all regional. So it's a cohesive team for the Midwest,

Jason: 12:13

Yeah, like a team that you get to know pretty well through the process.

Tim: 12:16

Absolutely. And it's really a family. I think the relationship changes after not that the good cop, bad cop thing with interviewing, but once you're into this a lot of those relationships are ones that I still have in maintain. spend a lot of time with those people as you're evaluating the opportunity.

Jason: 12:32

Early on, it's a little more transactional. And then as they vet out people and get to the ones they know are gonna really be a high probability, it becomes yeah. A lot more. Like you said, a lot more like family and you're gonna be a part of the.

Tim: 12:46

For sure. And if yeah, I don't know the exact numbers it's something like a hundred thousand expressions of interest last year just crazy numbers of people that hope to join the organization. And obviously you can't build that many stores. So it's hard to get it's highly selective, but we just, we feel very thankful to be a part of this.

Jason: 13:04

that's a unique organization for sure. We just got one in our community this year. So it was obviously very exciting. Anytime, a Chick-fil-A arrives op and I'm a operations guy. I have been my whole career and When I look at how they run their operation, it's really fascinating what they've done differently to be able to run the amount of customers they do through it. Not only efficiently, but still the quality of the interactions are amazing. Aside from the food, just aside from the food, I look at all the other things they do. That's so unique than any other restaurant that's in that category. And it's fascinating for me to watch how they train their people how their people interact with their customers. And just even the infrastructure, the restaurant, I look at all that because it's how my brain works, but just okay, they do this very different and they're able to crank a lot more volume through in six days, not seven, they're always closed on Sundays and they're very proud of that fact to be able to give their people a break and a day of rest. Let's talk a little bit more about your family. You touched on that briefly. You said your wife and you met in college. Talk a little bit about. Her and the children and what they're up to and their ages and things like that.

Tim: 14:13

Michelle was born and raised in Kalamazoo. I've learned if you're not Dutch, you're not much, and I'm not Dutch. So I've married into a big Dutch family, which was really awesome and lots of cousins and grandkids and things like that. My wife went to Kalamazoo Christian high school. She had some scholarship basketball opportunities, but ultimately felt the Lord's leading to stay home and be Salton light at a secular university, a public university. When a lot of her siblings and cousins had gone a different route or maybe gone to a Christian college and she felt God's tug and pull on her life to, to do that. And start a Bible study and do some things to impact the locker room that she was placed in. And so she played basketball there on a basketball scholarship. She was a early childhood and special education major. And when we were first married, she taught for Seven or eight years predominantly all in Kalamazoo public schools it really was a heart and a calling for her to be in a couple of the more difficult buildings on the north side of Kalamazoo. And we have some really just fun stories before we had children of God trying to tug in our hearts and use us to serve at the Kalamazoo gospel mission and to serve students that were in fact, homeless lived at the mission, but went to her school and things like that. And it was really fun to plug into a ministry there in our community. And we still support them and have a lot of ties to their new shelter. They just opened. We got to be a part of that campaign and just a really neat experience. So Michelle has a huge empathetic heart. She loves children. She's a wonderful mother. And as you mentioned, our kids Daniel, our first is now seven, he'll be in first grade next year. He just turned seven. He loves his super Mario. He loves sports. We just hit the golf ball a little bit the other day. And he's my buddy and we're really close. And then my daughter, Emma, we have one of each which is fun. So Emma's four. She's focused in feisty, which I love and is super into gymnastics and swimming right now. And she'll be in preschool again next year, which is great. And the kids are at grand rapids Christian schools, which we absolutely love. And gives that reinforcement of growing in our faith, not just our education and passing that legacy, hopefully onto our kids and seeing those values reinforced at school, it's really been awesome.

Jason: 16:20

We have some similar background as far as the Christian education. Our kids went to Calhoun Christian, which is here in, in battle Creek. And I know we've we've benchmarked with Kalamazoo Christian before they're just down the road. And grand rapids is a little out of our region, but we do tuition benchmarking and things like that. We check in with those schools. Yeah, we've, we're really blessed on this side of the state to have some really solid. Christian education K through 12 and even preschool. Our first granddaughter is actually just getting ready to enroll in preschool this fall in that school. And I've had one daughter graduate and now a son who's in high school. It's a blessing to have that definitely a lot of people choose public schools and some choose homeschool and I think that's an issue we have to give grace among other believers in what they feel God's called him to do. Just like you talked about Michelle feeling led to go to Western versus a Christian college. I think God uses his people in different ways and at where they go to get their education. And that's good, but we're very blessed to have those opportunities here in this

Tim: 17:20

right. And I, and to further that point I think I'm a public school product myself. I grew up in a small community probably a little bit more sheltered maybe than a larger district or organization. But I remember being even in that environment, having teachers that were believers, that poured into me I think that their witness and their faith lived out through their actions, not their words was magnetic to me. And then ultimately had times whether it was with a math teacher before school started or different extracurricular activities or they came to FCA on Fridays fellowship of Christian athletes. We used to have on Fridays before school, Our athletic director, counselors or others would be a part of that. And so you get to see them live it out in a secular setting. And I think much in my career thus far that's the environment I've been in. I've been in public schools. I've been in a fortune 200 company and even at Chick-fil-A There's listen, there's been, Chick-fil-A's come under fire multiple times, right? Maybe a stance on this or something that the Chick-fil-A foundation has supported. But at the end of the day the thing that, and we'll get to this know, the thing that we talk about is an organization and we talk about it locally is honor dignity and respect for all. There is a reason we're closed on Sunday. There are values that we uphold, but we're also not here to hit people over the head with a Bible. We're here to love, serve, and show genuine hospitality for every person. And faith is caught. It's taught too, but it's caught first and it's caught through the way you conduct yourself. It's caught through the way in our business. You handle an angry guest it's caught through the way that you treat and love a team member. Who's going through a difficult time. And that's true no matter where you are. And so I think for much of my life I've been called and my wife too, to be. Salton light in a secular setting. And I, I feel very blessed to work for an organization that does support my faith and values. But I'm also not out here to proselytize every day. I'm out here to just be excellent in my work. I think one of the ways scripturally, if we look at Daniel and his story and the environment he was in I think one of the best ways he was a witness in his work and in his career working in a PGAN land right. Was to be excellent at what he did. He was an excellent leader. He stood firm in his values, and I think that's one of the ways that we can really be a witness, no matter what environment we're in.

Jason: 19:35

yeah. And I'll tell you that, to me, it was really the catalyst of this podcast was to talk to people who are passionate about being leaders and wanna do it well and wanna lead teams really well. in that secular environment that are also believers and wanna honor. Christ in their work and just do it well. And we've talked about this on a few of the shows where my job is not to go in and like you said, to proselytize people, that's not what I'm paid to do. I'm gonna, I'm gonna work in a way I hope and pray that that honors the Lord, and that is excellent. And that's how you do that is through excellence in treating people the way they ought to be treated the way the scripture tells us that we ought to treat people and going and doing your work really well. So I think you just really hit on the idea behind this podcast is to talk to people that are doing that so that others that are trying to do that can be inspired by that and learn from each other. So as we're talking about faith, Tim, tell us a little bit about your faith background. How did you come to know the Lord where you saved as a little one where you saved as an adult, talked to us about what God has done in your life.

Tim: 20:44

Yeah, absolutely. For me actually not till college. When I grew up, I was raised in the Methodist church. I would say that our faith was my faith was my parents' faith in many ways. We were very we're disciplined routine oriented family, so it's just what we did every Sunday it's Sunday school and church, and then youth group it was a process, it was a routine. And that was good. I think children thrive in structure and routine. And so for me it became a part of life and a way of life, but and I was active in fellowship or Christian athletes. I was in some leadership roles in FCA, late in my high school career. If you would've asked me when I was a junior or senior if I was a Christian, I would've told you. Yes. However when I came to Western, I quickly learned over the next couple years that, that the actual answer was no, I wasn't. I hadn't really. Heard and soaked into a true gospel presentation, that, that my sin separates me from Christ and that I need him to bridge that gap between me and holy father and to enter into that personal relationship. And so where I'll pick up the journey and the piece of know, making that decision to follow Jesus wholeheartedly was really between kind of 2005 and 2007. So when I came to Western, I was an 18 year old, skinny scrawny, freshman and ended up. Because of just we had two fifth year seniors, we had a guy that changed positions and we were pretty thin on the depth chart. There was a big gap in age at the quarterback position, which is not what you want. And so I had the good fortune of earning the number three spot. So I had two seniors and my, and then this skinny scrawny freshman being the third string guy. So I ended up traveling the intent was never for me to play my first year, but just travel with the team, learn and red shirt put on some pounds, get stronger and then learn the system and hopefully play in my second year. What ended up happening is the starter suffered a season ending injury. The second guy struggled a little bit. And so by the fourth week of the season, they're like, Hey, you're up? And so here here I am 18 years old just a few months removed from high school and I'm starting college quarterback. Luckily we had a couple guys that you may have heard of one named Greg Jennings that won a super bowl in green bay and did really well. And another guy named Tony Scheffler, who was a second round pick and had a really nice career in both Denver and Detroit. And so I could just close my eyes and throw it up and someone would catch it. And it worked out okay. But that year went really well. We lost our first couple games and then we rattled off like seven in a row. One of the, at the time, one of the biggest turnarounds in Mid-American conference history. But in the final game of that season at Northern Illinois I suffered a really severe knee injury. I tore three ligaments in my right knee. Took a high, low shot and dislocated my knee. It was pretty, pretty gruesome. And definitely a concerning time. I'd never had an injury before, other than the collarbone I mentioned earlier I'd never had surgery before and there was a lot of doubt of will you be the same kind of thing I to this day, if I'm gonna play pick up basketball, I throw a brace on that knee it's it was a pretty good one. And so because of that football's gone for a year. I took a red shirt year, so I played, and then I sat out a whole year, basically 16 months. I they recruited a junior college transfer, so they had a guy who was more mature who had played at a junior college level. And the intent was if I wasn't ready to go he would come in and start right away. They had a plug and play veteran. And that was a dark and hard time because. Something that you've invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears in. When we walk with the Lord, our faith is in something eternal, it's unchanging, right. Circumstances and difficulties come and things around us change, but God doesn't. And so I was all of a sudden in this situation where something I'd love, something I'd worked so hard to get something I'd poured a lot of time into was gone potentially for a long time. I didn't know. But certainly for a good year and a half. And so you're just rehabbing, you're not a part of the team you feel separated. It was a really dark and hard time. And during that time, I had a teammate who actually got to just see a couple weeks ago who poured into me a little bit, invited me to a Bible study encouraged me to refocus and reroute myself. And it was during that season that the gospel just really hit me right. Between the eyes of this. Concept of Tim, where is your identity? You've just been pushing and striving so hard for this. I remember being at home over Christmas break with my knee in this machine, going back and forth bending it, trying to get that range of motion back. And I had brought like my playbook home and I'm thinking, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to get ahead. I'm gonna study some of this stuff in my downtime. And I I just couldn't look at it. Like I was just burned out I just poured all of myself into that. And then it was here I am. What did I get for it, an injury it was during that time where I was like, man all right, Lord, if you know what I say, I believe is really real. I need to commit to this. And it was coming back to school then, and into the start of 2007 that I made the decision to give my life to Christ. And he really used Michelle and I both that summer through a fellowship at Christian athletes camp where we really got to serve and go deeper. And then ultimately he used that open door to bring FCA back to campus at Western. So we, we didn't have an organization at that time. And he positioned Michelle and I to, along with the help of many other people. We just happened to be there with them, but to start an FCA huddle on campus that still exists today to serve athletes and to help them grow in their face. Long answer there, but it really was through. The adversity of being away from home of having that thing that I, that was at the time held. So dear taken away and coming back to say Tim you're putting your identity in something temporary. That's the wrong thing. Come back to me. And that's where my relationship with the truly started.

Jason: 26:22

I love that story. I love that he took something that as you said, you would hold him so tightly a dream that you had that's there was nothing wrong with the dream inherently, but yeah, he short circuited that to put you in a different direction and through the process really got ahold of your heart. I think that many of us who came to faith or at least renewed our commitment to the Lord as adults have a similar story where he just completely turned our lives upside down, cuz we're stubborn. Right. And sometimes that's what it takes to get our attention. No, that's great. I love that.

Tim: 26:56

Looking back on that. I think one of the things I noticed was that football meant less and less to me. Now that didn't mean that I didn't work as hard. It didn't mean that I didn't put as many hours in. But it just kinda had a different hold on me. I still loved it. if I'm, if I'm honest, there's times I still miss it parts I don't parts I do, but there's just, there, there really is nothing like running out that tunnel on a Saturday. It's so cool. And you go to a game and you kinda you feel that emotion well up a little bit of just how neat it is with those guys on the field or getting to experience cuz you've been there. But after that moment, it meant a little less to me. And I think that was the holy Spirit's work in my life. It wasn't that I didn't commit didn't put the time in, but it wasn't in first place anymore. If that makes sense. And uh, I think that's the work of the holy spirit.

Jason: 27:38

Yep. That's right. I can understand that and see those things in my life too, that were, and you, it goes back to what you talked about, where's your identity at, and it's not in our jobs, it's not in our careers. It's not in our profession. It shouldn't be, but oftentimes it will be, and it should be in Christ. And so yeah, that makes total sense. So let's. Pivot a little bit here. Tell me what's a core leadership principle that you have when you really boil down your leadership mantra what is that?

Tim: 28:10

Yeah, that's a great question. And there's so many different ways to say it. I'll say this at a personal level, my personal purpose is to do everything in service to God, for the betterment of others. It's my own purpose to do everything in service to God, for the betterment of others. People have defined leadership many different ways, but over the years, whether I was developing leaders at striker, even now the word that I try to use over and over in Chick-fil-A uses this word a lot, which I think is where I find a lot of alignment in our values and purpose is I believe leadership John Maxwell for years said leadership is influence and it is however, if I were to define leadership in a word, I would define it as stewardship. I think leadership is stewardship. And what I mean by that is stewardship just simply means to take care of something. And so if you're a leader. You take the utmost care of what's been entrusted to you. So the first thing that obviously comes to that is people as a leader you need to lead yourself. And so there's self leadership right? And the hardest person to lead is the man or woman in the mirror sometimes. But it's Stu it's that self leadership, self stewardship. And then I think the next part that flows out of that then is care. And stewardship of the people entrusted to you. That might be a team of three. It might be a team of 23 in our organization. We have about 123 employees right now. And so I can't. Spend enough time with all of them, but I can really steward our leadership team of six or seven people that we have. So I try to really invest there and take great care of them as well as the whole team. But it flows out of those six or seven individuals directly. And then I think from there it's then the resources, and when I say resources, that's a broad term, but it's what has been entrusted to you. If you're in business we're not here just to make money, but we gotta be profitable. That's the oxygen of the business. If we want to take good care of our guests and reinvest and pay our people and do all those things, we've gotta steward the resources that have been given to us. The equipment that's been given to us if you're in education you may have a budget or you may have obviously you have students you need to a classroom, you need to steward those things. If you're in healthcare again, equipment people around you on your staff facilities, a budget, right? So there's, that's the rings I see is that, that self leadership, self stewardship of people, and then stewardship of resources and what are you doing to care for those things? So that's really how I look at leadership is how well do I care for the things that have been entrusted to me.

Jason: 30:27

I like that a lot. Yeah. That's good. I'm a big John Maxwell fan and I know a lot of his quotes as well, but I think that's a great way to put it, that we are entrusted with those things. Biblically we're entrusted with our family. We're entrusted with all the things that the Lord has given us that we have authority and responsibility over. And I think you have to wake up thinking of'em that way every single day. They're not yours. You didn't earn'em. You were given those things for a time to steward them and care for them. And Christ shares a parable about that, that there were talents given. And what did you do with those talents? So I think that's really good. So you talked a little bit about leading yourself and I absolutely agree that's where it starts for leaders is that, so talk to me a little bit about your spiritual disciplines. What does Tim Hiller do to ensure that your walk with the Lord stays strong and your sanctification remains in progress?

Tim: 31:23

Yeah. I'll be transparent by starting that there are things that I'm good at and things I'm not good at. And I think we're all wired differently. And so then when it comes to spiritual disciplines, there's things that we do well and things that we don't. If I were to give myself a a strong letter grade, or a identifying area of strength, that would be, it'd be reading, it'd be studying scripture. It'd be listening to sermons and podcasts and just soaking in knowledge. But then on the flip side where I'd give myself more of a, B minus or C and identify an area of weakness or improvement would be in my prayer life. I tend to have a mine that's always going. I tend to view the day as a giant to do or checklist sometimes. And so having that time to turn that off and be still and take off my iWatch and put my phone away and just like you can't get to me right now. And truly be still in pray is just this area of growing growth for me. But on a daily basis, what it looks like right now I'm doing a and having kids and being busy, I'm doing a little bit of a scaled back Bible plan this year. So I'm doing the new Testament in a year. It, it consists of a chapter a day, five days a week with weekends off. And it also admittedly here and there, I miss a day, kids are up early or something happens. And so it gives me that ability to catch up, but that's what I'm working through this year. And so I'm very structured and routine oriented. And so having that. That plan is ultimately typically what sets me up for success in terms of Bible reading. And that's really where I thrive where I need to grow is just that area of opportunity in prayer and committing those things to the Lord each and every day, especially as a business owner, I think in this season of strangeness in our economy I tend to worry probably more than I usually do about things that I can't control. And so it's that time of reentering even if it's just when I'm in the car just being still for a moment, asking for strength for the day. One of the things that we also try to do corporately as a leadership team is we start every weekly leadership team meeting with a time of prayer. And I think it, it just centers us well and puts us in a mindset of Lord we're here to do. Do your work today, we're here to commit this business to you and we're here to attempt to do all things for your glory. So really it's prayers devotions. The other thing I'd add to is I, again I, miss days I'm not perfect, but usually every single day with the nature of my schedule which has been a good thing I'm usually able to share breakfast with my kids. But whether it's before school or even in the summer here, and we ha we try to have a time of devotion every day with them, and that's good for me, but it's also hopefully modeling for them that prioritization of that time and pouring into them a little bit both relationally and spiritually. So those are just a few few things I do.

Jason: 34:04

I like that. And I appreciate your transparency. And I think anyone who would be honest is gonna say that they struggle to be as disciplined as they should be. As someone who's raised two children and close to the next one, graduating here in the next couple years taking that time to do, if you can those devotions with your family, man, that is so important. And there's times we did it and there's a lot of times we didn't and I wish we would've done it more, but that's super important. So that's good. Tim, when you were early younger leader talk to us about something that's you struggled with I think all young leaders we struggled just in a lot of areas, but something specifically, maybe that you struggled with and have you overcome it, if you did, how did you, or if you haven't overcome it what are some things that you do to manage it?

Tim: 34:49

I do still struggle with this, but I feel like I have grown some the word would be patience. And what I mean by patience is not so much patience with people, although that's very important, it's having realistic expectations about how quickly a project, an effort a change transformation can happen. Look, we're nine months into this business and I wanna be busier. I wanna be better. I wanna be faster in the drive through, I wanna have more sales and sometimes I just gotta be like, Tim you're nine months in. It takes years to build a business. It, and it, I don't like that answer. And I don't like talking to myself that way but it is, it is reality. And I think there were times I think back to just I'll tell a story of something foolish I did before. I I remember being a head high school coach and had having a, I think it was like one of our freshman assistants kind. Come to me. And a couple freshmen had violated one of our team rules and they had done something that, that they weren't supposed to be doing. And it was like, all right, I gotta get this off my list. I gotta get this done. And you send this like massive email to all these parents of Hey reminder of this, we can't do this and then you're getting all these calls and you're like, why didn't I just slow down? I'm 24 years old or whatever. I am slow down, get the facts, talk to the kids, talk to my co like, take five days, three days and just dig into the thing. And I. There probably was like a minor issue that could have just been resolved through a couple conversations. And I think it's again, we all make those type of mistakes where we make a snap judgment, but it's like, all right, slow down, gather all the facts, spend some time with the people, do all the research nothing's on fire. It's just this kind of hopefully wisdom that comes from experience, but just slow down and have the right expectations, have the right pace, have the right patience. And it's really hard. I hope it's an area I'm growing in. It's good to have that burning desire to be better and push the envelope but you also gotta temper it a little bit with there's a cost to that. You could go that fast, but there's a cost to your own health, to the team, to burn out. You gotta really be wise, I think when it comes to pace. So the word I would use is patience.

Jason: 36:58

I relate a similar story. I sent an email one time and fortunately I had a boss who was also a great mentor of mine and had. He was also a man that lied to patients and at times early in his career and he told me, he said, sometimes you just gotta, you can write the email, but don't hit send give it some time think through it. And I think what I've learned. Cause I'm, I have the same tendencies that I always want to do better go faster. And I've had to tell myself more than once that those unrealistic expectations, how devastating they can be to your team and how you have to stop and recognize the progress that's been made.

Tim: 37:39

and celebrate

Jason: 37:40

to, you gotta celebrate. Yep. You gotta celebrate those wins. And early in my career as a leader, it was a hundred percent focused on. Drive go improve. And something that was, I guess said about me as I would get it done, but I'd leave a trail of dead bodies in my wake, and that's what you talk about the cost and I had to learn, and fortunately I had some mentors around me that would speak some truth and love and point those things out to me. And fortunately God's been gracious to work in my life on that. And I'm still learning. I think that you're wired there's a certain wiring that it's just always gonna be a struggle. And then you always fear. And I don't know if you've ever thought this as you're having those conversations with yourself to slow down, but you always, then you start worrying. What if I slow down too much? And I'm not and I don't hit the targets and I just become complacent. Am I gonna become complacent?

Tim: 38:37

there's two things, Jason. I agree with that. I agree with all of it a hundred percent. I think that if you study the life of Abraham Lincoln there's stories of him. I assume them to be true that when he was angry or upset with a fellow politician, my policy maker, another leader, whoever he would write them a letter. He would be he would say everything he wanted to say, and then he'd throw it in a drawer is, you know what I've read about him multiple times. And then who knows 24, 48 hours, something like that. He'd pull that letter back out and then determine, Hey, Does this need to be sent, right? Or did I deal with it and then put it away? And there, to your point with your mentor, there's just a lot of wisdom in that. I think it's actually a great practice let's type out what we feel and then put it away in 48 hours from now. See if it's necessary, if it's warranted to your point, I think the world, I think your colleagues, I think in in, in what we do there's multiple Chick-fil-A franchisees in a market I have a vision and a hope and a desire long term to, to have another location or who knows what the Lord will provide and his timing. But it's easy to fall into the comparison trap, right? They're doing this and they're doing that. And they're faster than me and they're bigger than me. And I, Hey, I struggle with that cause I wanna, I want to advance. I want to go. I want to be there. And I think. Someone's always working. Someone's always, and we've encountered this in the athletic realm too. If you're not watching film, somebody is, if you're not lifting weight, somebody is someone's coming for you. There's always that the position I played is quarterback. You're gonna recruit one on scholarship every single year, maybe two, there's always someone waiting in the wings. There's always someone coming for your job. And a little bit of that healthy paranoia is okay, because it will, it'll keep you going. It'll allow you to not settle, but you also have to. You're not being complacent. You're being again to use that word, a good steward of I have so many hours in a day, I have to set my priorities, my family and my faith have to be some of those priorities. And I've got to find the right boundaries to do the very best I can with the time I have, and then be able to rest in that the John wooden definition of success, right? The success is having that peace of mind that you've done the very best that you can. And my goal every day is to just look myself in the mirror and say, I, I could not have done anything more today to to further this cause to advance our team, to grow our business and to be a good dad and good husband. And I'm not perfect. I fall short of that a lot of times, or I get things outta whack or outta balance, but I think that at the end of the day, you've gotta run your own race, not fall into that comparison trap and live into that. And it's way easier said than done. But I hope to look back one day and say, Hey, I don't have any regrets. I, I did the best I could with the time I had.

Jason: 41:14

yeah, I like the healthy paranoia. I like that. That concept healthy, not unhealthy paranoia. So Tim, when you look around your sphere of influence and even past that right now, what do you, think's the biggest gap in leadership in the world? Right now that's having the negative impact.

Tim: 41:34

to begin, but I think I think at the end of the day, What I'm reminded of. And I'm, this isn't gonna sound good, but I want, I'm gonna say this as humbly, as possible as I was in a leadership team meeting just recently, we just hired a new catering director and one of our other leaders who's a bit more direct was like, why are you here? Like why are you at this Chick-fil-A location? And it spurred a discussion around the team. And let it happen for a while. And a lot of'em said, I'm here cuz of Tim. And I say that as, as humbly as possible. But it also is I take, it puts a great deal of pressure on you. From the standpoint of a leader, as like at the end of the day, you're here to encourage and shepherd people, right? If we care for people, if we show them that we care, if we do our best to you. Pour into them, spend time with them invest in their development, ask them hard, hard, but good questions to make them think and try to stretch them to become more than they're capable of. I do believe most of the other things are gonna fall into place, whether that's the financial performance of the business, it's their leadership and investment in other team members under their leadership that ripple effect. And I just think I, and I experienced this in different parts of my career. You and I have both worked at a publicly traded company. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's a great environment. I would not be the leader. I am, I would not be in this position if it weren't for some of those experiences, but we've also seen the times right where the purpose and the mission can fall victim to. Shareholder return or can fall victim to the bottom line. It can fall victim to other things, and you gotta have that positive tension of both. And so I think there's a lot of times where I see achievement in results, oriented leadership, taking precedence over people where the reality is, I think is a leader. If we're a good steward of those around us and trusted to us that will drive the results that will get us to the end game, if we keep the first thing first. And so if I ever see any crisis, I think it's that advancement of self or the advancement of results over the people under your care that are entrusted to you. And if you trust the process, I think it is slower. It is longer, but if we're intentional, And we focus on the people. We're all in a people business in some way that will ultimately drive the results. It may be a little slower, but it will, if we're committed to it. And I do see that being sacrificed sometimes in certain places and it's concerning. And so just trying to model what I can, where I am in that way.

Jason: 43:59

I think it's a, it of ties back to the whole patient's idea we talked about because it's really about quicker results and not having the the patients to to see the proactive measures pay off you. You often hear people talk about working for a family owned company and the biggest benefit they saw was that they were in it for the long haul. They would make the investments. And in those resources, whether it's the people, resources, the infrastructure, the capital resources, because they are in it, not for the months, not for the quarter, I'm sure you have to operate the business as best you can in that short term, but there aren't for the long haul. And that's yeah, it's to be in those environments is just a lot more healthy and and long term, a lot more beneficial, really drives a lot more stability in the business and it's a better way to steward the resources.

Tim: 44:53

It is. And I'd be lying to you if I said I don't even feel that if I don't feel that tension within me. Let's be very transparent as as an owner operator of a franchise business I pay myself a salary every month, but I also, the majority of my compensation comes from monthly profits. And so I like there is that again, I would call it healthy paranoia, healthy pressure to be profitable every month, but I also have to have the perspective to say, okay, what am I trying to achieve one year out, 18 months out, three years out, five years out. And that might mean I take a hit this month and next month, but I'm preparing for something greater. I'm making a strategic bet on something I think will benefit the business longer term. So I'm willing to make that investment now. And it's hard not to be shortsighted. But again, PA I think patience is such

Jason: 45:39

Yeah. Yeah. It's always hard. It's always hard not to be shortsighted and yeah, that's for sure. So Tim, when you when you go into the store every day and you work with all your associates, how do you honor Christ and your work? What are some specific things that you do that you try to model your love for Christ and your, and his love for those under your care.

Tim: 46:02

Yeah. I, there's a few things. I think where it starts for us, I Simon Sinek is, has really put himself on the map for this concept of starting with why. But I do think that the Lord wants us to be purpose driven. I think Christ was purpose driven clearly in his ministry when he was here on earth. And so it starts with us for having a really clear vision and purpose for our team that we talk about a lot in our vision is to be the highlight of every guest day. So that when they come home And honey your wife says, honey, how was your day today? That, that we would enter into the top two or three highlights of the day. That's a lofty goal. If you think about recounting your day with your spouse or significant other family, but we desire to enter into that conversation because we've been so excellent in our work. That's our vision, our purpose then is to make every life we touch better. It's a simple statement, but one of the intentional parts I would point out is that it doesn't say to make every guest's life better just as every life we touch better. So that could be in our community, but more importantly, that could be our team members that we're trying to make their day better too, that they're having a positive experience as they, they work in our organization. And then we have our values, so we have four values. They're they are an acronym that spell the word rise, R I S E. But they are reliability. Industriousness or hard work service and excellence. And we have a definition for each of those. And so we have them prominently posted. We talk about'em often we use them, even in our discipline process. Sometimes we have to write somebody up or they fell short of a standard. And we try to have a values based conversation. When we do that say, Hey, one of our values here is reliability. If you're scheduled to work a shift and you didn't request the time off you own that shift, you're responsible for being reliable. That's what we expect here. And you didn't get someone to cover you. So therefore in love, I've gotta, I gotta write you up here, but you gotta fulfill our values. And so that's one of the ways that we first and foremost try to hold a high standard. But a lot of it on the second part I'll be honest with you. I don't get a lot done when I'm at the store. It's like when I'm there it's people time and chipping in and helping. If I'm gonna get some head down work done, I almost have to get out of there to focus and to get some of that planning work done. But when I'm there I'm trying to have one-on- connections with my leaders. Usually I would say I'm consistent having a one-on-one with them every other week. I try to do it every week. It doesn't always happen. But trying to invest at least 30 minutes with each of those key leaders on a hopefully weekly basis, if not every other to just check in with them, check on their priorities how can I support them, make sure they're doing well personally and have a lot of communication. And then just I also think showing my team that I'm not above any, anything else. Christ modeled foot washing right at the Chick-fil-A corporate headquarters. There's a statue of Jesus washing feet. Not too many companies, our size have a statue of Jesus washing feet in the lobby. But it's a model of service of genuine care and hospitality. And so for me it's Hey I'll come to the shift leader. If I've got the time available between 11 and one, and we know we're gonna be busy, I'm like, Hey, can you use me? Where can you put me I'm gonna jump in. I'm gonna, I'm not over or above running fryers or running food out to cars or wiping tables. I I try to jump in and help and model that I'm not above any of that. I'm not gonna be here all hours of the day, but when I am here I'm here to serve along with you. And I hope that speaks volumes to them that if he can do it then by golly, I can too. So those are a few ways that I hope to do that. And then you have those private conversations. I Had a good conversation with a team member yesterday. She's going through an awful lot with her family and her personal life and sharing a bit of personal testimony, sharing some scripture and trying to be a witness in that private way as well. But again, I think it comes back to it's actions, it's words, it's how you care for others. It's how you live first. And then that opens the door to some of those maybe more specific opportunities where you're deep, more deeply sharing your faith.

Jason: 49:50

Appreciate you sharing that. Who are some authors that you always try to follow? Whether it's books, podcasts, who are some of your top and top authors, top books that you would recommend for other leaders?

Tim: 50:02

That's really great. Yeah. I I think leaders are readers. I look forward to today when I can read more books and have a little more time. I feel like I'm chasing kids around and stuff, which is an awesome season to be in as well. But from a spiritual standpoint one individual that has impacted my life from afar and he would never know it is Tim Keller outta New York city at Redeemer Presbyterian. I just think he's the CS Lewis of our era. I listen to him often. I've read a lot of his work and done some small group studies of his materials, but. The wisdom he has and the way that he's able to so clearly teach scripture has really deeply impacted my life. Specifically his book, every good endeavor, which is really about tying the gospel to your work really was transformational for me in that there is honor and dignity in all types of work no matter what it is. And we really have an opportunity to fulfill gospel through work. It's how God enters into partnership with us by using our work to further his kingdom and to develop human flourishing. So in a spiritual sense, he's someone that I listen to often and read a lot. I am reading a book right now called radical candor. I think an area of opportunity for me as a leader is to get better at providing clear, concise, timely feedback to others. But I think there's a way to do that. So I am reading a book right now. I believe Kim Scott is the author. She's former Google executive. She's worked at apple. And is it all fitting to me? Probably not, but she's got some really good strategies. Good advice about how to do that. I think that's part of good stewardship too is being able to be a coach and provide hard things sometimes too, that people need to work on and improve, but do it in love. You mentioned John Maxwell, I've read a a lot of his materials over his, over the years in training. I really appreciate his work. Specifically the 360 degree leader is a great read and one that I really appreciate so little snapshot there. I also like chip and Dan Heath they're a couple brothers, professors and ones at duke one might be at Stanford. But they have a lot of really powerful research. The power moments is a great read for them. They have another one called upstream. It's about preventing problems before they happen. They have another book on decision making, I think is great. So I'm a big fan of the Heath brothers. I think they have some good stuff. And then Simon Sinek as well. I mentioned him earlier, but start with why leaders eat last the infinite game. Some good things that have definitely spoken to me as well.

Jason: 52:22

Good. I'll link to some of these books that you mentioned. That's a really good list. And one thing I. Comment on, I think is really cool, is it's, that's a pretty broad range of styles of authors. The two brothers that sounds very much that it's based on research and academic research, but how do you apply practically apply it as well as pastors that you're listening to. And some leadership authors that would, we would probably consider within the faith and some that are probably not within the faith, but still good principles. Truth always boils down to biblical principles. God is the author of truth. There's things we can learn when we read broadly. And it sounds like you do, and I think that's really important.

Tim: 53:04

And I think to further that I think we can learn from any leader. And so I think I've, I've played for and worked for great leaders and I've. Played as an athlete and worked for just calm, not so good leaders. And I've tell this to young people too, that sometimes you get people that reach out or they're frustrated with something they're frustrated in their career, and I'm always happy to provide wisdom and advice, but I like to remind them that you can learn something from everyone. And you can learn something from every leader. It might be a hard season, but you can take away a lot from this. And some of it will be good and some of it will be what not to do. And that's, that is equally as valuable, as hard as it is right now. And so I think that's where reading and learning and listening to a variety of things, as long as you're rooted in truth, as you mentioned it, it is valuable.

Jason: 53:48

Yeah. So speaking of younger leaders reaching out I'm super glad to hear that. I think that's important for all of us to mentor. What advice would you give to a first time young leader? Just getting ready to take over a role as say, you're sitting over a cup of coffee with a young person that, you know, and they're like, Hey, just got my first promotion. I'll be leading a team. What advice would you give'em.

Tim: 54:08

Yeah, that is a phenomenal question. One that I probably wish I would've asked more. when I was in that situation. I think the first thing I would say is. Something to the effect of don't do anything for 90 days. Like just spend time with people again, it depends on the environment and what is it a, what business it is or organization or whatever, but like for two, three months just spend time with people, get to know them get to know them personally, ask them their preferences. Like how often do you wanna meet with me? And how do you like to be communicated with, and what bothers you? And just like some of that customization of your approach with that individual, if you're the same to everybody, you're probably getting it wrong with somebody cuz everybody's different. And really is individual. And then I think the other piece of that is like just watch and learn and take it in and ask good questions. I think a lot of times you come in guns, a blazing and you wanna, I'm gonna make all these changes and do all these things and you should over time and that's great. But take some of that time. There's a HBR book. It's been awhile since I've read it called the first 90 days. It's a little bit academic, but it does talk about that empirical study of. What should you do to be successful for the first three months? And a lot of it is finding a way to soak it in and then identify some short small momentum building goals that you can get to. And I really believe that. I think if you just come in guns, a blaze and making changes and you don't know the people and you don't know the business and you don't know the team, it's really gonna blow up on you. So take your time, get to know the people observe, ask questions, soak it in. And then once you've got some of that time under your belt and that credibility then start working with the team on, Hey what about this? What about that? Let's make some changes.

Jason: 55:44

There's an approach that I learned from a leader a long time ago, and it's listen, learn, and then lead. And I've always appreciated that it's hard to do when you come into a new, especially if it's again, I'm a ops guy. So if you come into an operation, that's performing poorly, everybody wants it to be turned around 10 days after you get there. So there's a lot of pressure on that, but I do think that you're gonna trip yourself up if you don't take the time to build those relationships, understand the situation and to do that. I think that's really good advice. And again, that, that pushes back against that patient's piece that we talked about earlier.

Tim: 56:22

Yeah, you've been brought in to, to shake it up, but it if you do it too quickly, you'll make it worse. And I think the other thing is change is like a change is like a home remodel project, right? I've done enough projects at my house that I don't really care to do many more, but it's it always gets this. This is my point. It always gets worse before it gets better. I'll give you an example. I came home one night. I had to work late. When we were living in Kalamazoo and my wife had torn up all the linoleum in the kitchen. So she would sit here and laugh with me. She had been, Hey, I want tile. I want tile floors. I came home one night and the linoleum was gone. So at that point I had no, there was no turning back. But here's the thing is right. We had we had a concrete, a poured concrete floor in our kitchen for six weeks. And it was worse than the linoleum before it got better with the tile. And I think that's a little metaphor for a lot of times how a change effort goes, right? It's gonna take a little longer, a little slower. It's tough to keep it on budget. It's tough. And it will, as you enter into that, you gotta know Hey, there's gonna be a little dip. It's gonna be challenging before it, it pops back up and gets better. And that commitment to the vision, that commitment to the people, if you don't have that upfront you could lose some people it's gonna get dicey. You gotta really. Follow your three LS. You talked about upfront to listen and learn before you lead'em. Cuz it'll be hard, but you'll

Jason: 57:37

I think that, yeah, I think that's great advice and a really good analogy and it's totally true. It will get worse before it gets better. It reminds me a little bit of the team forming model. I, the it's been a long time since I saw it, but it goes through that there's a storming step, right? It's I think it's forming storming norming and then performing. And I've, it's true. When you change a team up, it's gonna get worse before it gets better. And you just have to follow the process, trust the process, as you said, put those tools in place and trust them. And that things will good. Things will come to those who wait to use it in old cliche. A so you're a pretty young guy, so I know you got a long career ahead of you. I think you seem like the type of guy that's already thinking about this when when it's time for you to be done professionally and you've worked with many people over decades, what do you hope that they remember about you? What do you hope people talk about maybe on your your retirement party that they would have to say about you.

Tim: 58:36

yeah I probably should spend more time thinking about that when you have so much going on you're just trying to do the best you can with what's in front of you and what you're thinking about the coming six months, year, two, three years. But I I just hope people would say, I guess that that my life was better for having a minute that he made me and made what we were doing just a little bit better. He made my day just a little bit better. I think it's just about having Whatever I was a part of or whatever, I touched that hopefully that team or organization or whatever it was better for it than without me being there. I hope I I think if if I can say that, then it's I made a difference. Hopefully I helped somebody hopefully. I think it's not about you, but you wanna be missed when you're gone kind of thing, that, that when you were there and you were invested that there was a noticeable difference. And I think that's all we wanna do. We wanna live a life of significance and we wanna be good stewards. We wanna take care of what God's given us. And I hope that people and teams and areas what, you know, things that I've been a part of over the years will just have been that just a little bit better, just cuz I was there. And hopefully

Jason: 59:43

Yeah. Yeah. One of the things I've I've tried to do when I'm going to a team situation. And then when I leave is I always want to be able to say I left it better than I found it. And the people the operation certainly the people and leave those lasting impacts.

Tim: 59:58

You and I had a chance to work for the same mentor figure throughout our careers. We talked about that when we were preparing for this and that individual Jud was his name. He always said he talked about his dad taking him camping said leave the campground cleaner than it was before. Pick up after yourself. And I think I, that, that little soundbite always sticks with me of, Hey, leave the campground cleaner than it was before.

Jason: 1:00:20

I like that. Hey, before we wrap up Tim, is there a way people can connect with you? You got LinkedIn profile or something online. They can connect with you.

Tim: 1:00:28

Yeah, absolutely. I am on LinkedIn. My, my name is Tim last name is spelled Hiller, H I L L E R. Obviously you'll see Chick-fil-A on there and feel free to reach out that way. I do have a website. I don't frequently use it, but I do get some speaking requests and things. I still do. Not as much as I used to, but some public speaking and whatnot. Tim hiller.com T I M H I L L E r.com. You can always connect with me there. I'd get. Submissions through the website every couple weeks or so as well, and just keep in touch with people that way. So that's another way to, to touch base. I don't do a lot on social media. I am on Instagram and Facebook and all that at Tim Hiller three. That's another way you can find me, but yeah, LinkedIn or the, website's probably the best way and happy to connect. And if people are curious about Chick-fil-A and whatnot it's a really special organization. I'm always happy to share what I'm able about our work broadly. And there's just a lot of cool things to be proud of from what the Chick-fil-A foundation supports to our remarkable future scholarship, to just some things we're trying to work on in the restaurant to be innovative and to serve more guests great food in a truly genuine hospitable environment. That's what we're after. And it, it's a fun mission to be a part of.

Jason: 1:01:37

Great. I appreciate that. And I certainly appreciate your time today. I've really enjoyed getting to know you and learning about how God has worked through your life and through obstacles and through challenges and given you a lot of great opportunities to, to serve him where you're at right now. So thank you for thank you for joining us today.

Tim: 1:01:55

Yeah, thanks Jason. It's an honor. I love what you're doing with the podcast and I'm humbled and grateful to be a part of it. So thank you.

Jason: 1:02:00

Well, thank you for listening to this month's podcast. I hope you were as inspired and encouraged as I was after meeting Tim and seeing how God is working in and through. Him to serve others. Check out the show notes to see ways to connect to Tim and for resources he mentioned today. Including his own book. Which he humbly did not mention on today's interview. I hope you'll join us again. Next month. As we meet another leader who is striving to lead well and glorify Christ in the process. Until then I pray. God will use you and grow you wherever he currently has. You.