From Lucky to Smart: Leadership Lessons from Quiktrip

Chester is not a super human, nor is he a person without any flaws. He is a man that is dedicated to service and a goal seeker that always sets his goals higher and higher. He has always strived for more and he asked the same from every employee at QT. It is an amazing story. It is a story that will be talked about for years to come. An amazing man that lead amazing employees, that are in turn leading a great company. This book should be read by every salesperson, every entrepreneur, every manager. It is trully amazing what he and his emplyees have accomplished.

I don't work for Quik-Trip but I am a customer that goes there almost every day and it is a fantastic business model. They create raving fans... What other gas station can have a full parking lot of people going in to buy stuff when they have run out of gas? Quik-Trip is a special kind of business and the people that work there are almost always top-notch. The book does a good job af explaining his business philosophy and how it shaped this business growth and developmen. Well worth the read... Kudos to Mr. Cadieux for a vision fulfilled...Keep it up.

If you are involved any form of management in any industry, at any level, then "From Lucky to Smart" could easily be the most worthwile investment of your money you will ever make. Written by Chester Cadieux, the founder of QuikTrip, this book tells the tale of the formative years of a company that revolutionized the convenience store industry. QuikTrip (or QT, as it's employees and customers affectionately call it) currently sells more gasoline on a national scale than any other gasoline retailer... with only 500 stores nationwide. The company has been in the top 30 on Fortune Magazine's "top 100 companies to work for" list for the last 5 years. Employee turnover is also significantly lower at QT than any other Convenience store chain. Each store does, on average, 5 to 10 times the volume in sales (not counting gasoline) of the average convenience store. Recently, hurricanes caused a gasoline crisis in the Atlanta area. Thanks to excellent leadership by QT's management, and uncommonly high professionalism exhibited by QT employees, QuikTrip stores were the ONLY gasoline retailers able to continue selling gas through the entirety of the crisis. "From Lucky to Smart" focuses on the management philosophies that made this company what it is. As I said, This book is a gem for anybody who expects to manage people, or start a company, or even have a job for that matter (as much of the wisdom in this book is easily applicable for anyone in the workforce). Highly recommended. 5 stars. As a side note, any QT employee who attended the annual employee meetings recieved (among other things) this book free of charge. So if you know anyone who works for QuikTrip, just ask them if you can borrow it. :-)

Chester Cadieux does not merely pay lip service to treating his employees well and making every effort to provide quality service to his customers, he genuinely walks that talk. He made it a company standard early on to provide his employees with the best benefit package possible and the company continues to make those benefits a priority (when other companies are cutting back). From the beginning, providing quality products for a VERY FAIR price in a clean store with friendly clerks has been the QT creed ... the loyal customer base is proof of the resounding success of this humble, generous, common-sense approach in creating a company of such integrity. Kudos to you Chester! In my opinion, no one deserves it more than you!

This man has created the premium convenience store chain. He literally built an empire from the ground up. 50 years ago , he worked the counter at the first store and now there are over 500 stores that run 4 to 5 times what the industry average does. He created a culture which no other company has been able to copy. The purpose statement is to help employees grow and succeed. This is not crap, like most companies, this is 100% true. I have experienced it. Customers that move out of our markets are always calling to beg is to build where they are now. Read this book and you will get more out of it than your college business degree would get you.