Papa John's (PZZA) founder and CEO, John Schnatter, admits that he’s a driven perfectionist. He’s tossed lots of executives who didn’t meet his demands.
For Schnatter, becoming the national spokesman for his company was a huge challenge in the beginning, since he was terrified of public speaking (the No. 1 fear of most people, even more than death). He overcame his fear by working with a coach and forcing himself to talk to groups until he became in the 1990s an in-demand motivational speaker. Today he’s the face of Papa John’s in TV ads.
In June, the American Customer Satisfaction Index gave Papa John’s the highest rating among pizza chains for the 14th time in 16 years. Shareholders have rewarded Papa John’s by driving the stock up about 700% since 2009.
He’s a great example of what’s possible when a person figures out what they want to be great at and executes on that vision.
Recently, he shared his daily motto to get ahead: "Wake Up, Be Nice, Kick Ass, Repeat."