So why did the chicken cross the road?

Well..to teach us a valuable lesson. Check it.

Recently I pulled up to a God’s own Chick-fil-A (seriously, they are heavenly) to satisfy a certain nugget and waffle-fry craving. As I placed my order at the drive-thru, I noticed that the wait time was slightly longer than usual. Nothing significant at all (I’ve waited a million times longer at other amateur fast-food spots).  The friendly young lady at the window handed me my food and a coupon, apologizing for the “delay” and “inconvenience.

It got me thinking.

This billion-dollar organization had discovered one of the most crucial keys to both personal and corporate success: The ability to RECOGNIZE a mistake and FIX it. This principal is absolutely critical for personal and corporate success.  Here is how it works:

  1. Comparatively, there was absolutely no reason for Chick-fil-A to hand out coupons for customer inconvenience. Service retailers inconvenience customers all the time.
  2. Giving away a free chicken sandwich costs next to nothing for a corporation that brought in $3.0billion in revenue last year.
  3. What cost the company nothing earned my respect and fueled my affection for them. (I do not use the word “affection” lightly)

Here’s what would have happened had they not offered me a coupon: I would have still been happy with their product but the next “inconvenience” would trigger a memory of the first one. Subsequent inconveniences would build on top each other leading to an eventual disconnect from Chick-fil-A (GASP!)

We make mistakes all the time. Seldom do we recognize it, apologize, remedy the situation and move on. We assume it to be insignificant but rarely is it trivial to the offended. The success of a personal relationship or an organization hugely depends on the ability to recognize and rectify a mistake. I have actually discovered that my wife loves me more when I apologize for my mistakes (imagine that!)

So let’s learn a lesson from the chicken, or from our vandalizing bovine friends: the success of your relationship with God, your marriage, church, work-place, organization etc depends significantly on your ability to recognize and rectify your mistake.  You can make a lasting impression.