Posted on 09/29/2003 1:08:05 AM PDT by Amish
A common-sense approach Business executive Herman Cain eyes the U.S. Senate Sarah Rubenstein Staff writer Sometimes the key to success is just to do what's simplest .
When Herman Cain took the helm of a struggling group of Burger King operations in 1982, one way he improved sales was by making sure his employees looked customers in the eye when serving them.
When he became president of Godfather's Pizza in 1986, he brought the struggling chain back to profitability by doing things like reducing the number of toppings its restaurants offered, from 19 down to 10. Employees had told him nine weren't selling so well anyway.
Cain, 57, says he based his decisions on input from the people around him -- and they were common-sense decisions.
"Face the issues, use as much common sense as you can before you do all the fancy stuff, and then fix the problems," he said in an interview.
That same philosophy is what Cain, a long-shot Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, has used to shape his political views.
Less is more Although the Democratic Party still draws most African-American voters to its ranks, Cain is an African-American entrepreneur who believes in as little government as possible.
"What government program has been successful over the long term?" Cain said. "The only one is defense."
So Cain, who officially kicked off his campaign Sept. 10, is pushing for fiscal programs that also simplify.
Most importantly, he wants to wipe out the federal income tax code, which he calls convoluted, and replace it with a sales tax.
Cain also wants to shift Social Security to personal retirement accounts that individuals could invest, and he plans to push for people to have greater control over what health insurance company they use.
With two Republican congressmen, Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins, in the race to fill the seat Zell Miller is vacating, Cain could have trouble getting far with his messages or his candidacy. As of June 30, he had raised about $102,000, and he won't reveal whether he plans to spend any of his own money on the race.
"He's certainly the type of candidate that the Georgia Republicans would love to have, but his problem is he's competing against two much more experienced politicians who already have following and who are well-known throughout the state," Emory University political scientist Merle Black said.
But Cain says he thrives on tough circumstances.
Barriers to success The son of a man who held three jobs at once to support his family, Cain rose from a working-class Atlanta background to top positions in the business world.
He graduated from Morehouse College in 1967, worked for the Department of the Navy, was a business analyst for The Coca-Cola Co. and joined The Pillsbury Co. in 1977.
Five years later, he wanted a new challenge. So he left the senior position he'd reached at Pillsbury to become a manager at a single Burger King restaurant. He rose through the ranks within nine months, this time to lead 400 financially troubled Burger King units in the Philadelphia area. Within three years, that region was ranked No. 1 at Burger King for its performance.
Cain took the helm of Godfather's in 1986 and returned it to profitability within 14 months. Pillsbury bought out the chain in 1988, and Cain is still Godfather's chairman of the board.
Racism sometimes got in the way of Cain's upward climb, but he said he usually wasn't aware of that until after he had already accomplished his goals.
"Were [barriers] there? Yes," Cain said. "Did I feel them? No."
When he was a manager at Burger King, for instance, Cain was responsible for keeping track of all of the cash the restaurant collected.
One evening, another employee removed $50 from the register. Cain searched furiously for the money but couldn't find it, so he recorded that the money was gone -- a tough move, considering how much the company frowned on such mistakes.
The next night, the $50 had been returned to the register, and Cain learned much later that he was being tested. If he had replaced the $50 with money from his own pocket rather than following procedure and writing down the mistake, Cain would have gotten into even more trouble.
Cain said the employee tearfully confessed to him: "When you first came [here], we were told, 'Put that S.O.B. through the wringer.' "
These days, Cain is going through a different sort of wringer -- the grueling experience of a Senate campaign against some tough competition.
"He's running on his accomplishments, of which he can certainly be very proud," Georgia Republican Party Chairman Alec Poitevint said. "I think the problem for him is he's running in a crowded field with other people who have had significant accomplishments in their lives, particularly the two congressmen."
But as Cain said: "Call me the underdog. I love it."
And it's as simple as that.
Reach Rubenstein at srubenstein@bizjournals.com.
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.
wow its like Herman Wouk and the Caine Mutiny all rolled up into
just saying is all.
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