LAS VEGAS -- Leaders must practice discipline and courage when tackling any major challenge. That's the message retired Gen. Tommy Franks had for attendees of the NACS Show 2006 closing session. Franks should know, having led American forces into two major strategically unprecedented campaigns within two years' time: Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan (October 2001) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (March 2003).
Days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush turned to the general for a battle plan to rout al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The president's [image-nocss] response: What are you going to do about it? Franks faced a similar challenge on Dec. 26, 2001, when Bush asked the general to formulate a plan to topple then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He told the president there wasn't yet a good plan. Again, the president asked him to do something about it.
Apart from sharing lessons from his time as a four-star general serving the country, Franks offered practical advice. Retailers could learn a few lessons from something Franks' father told him as he boarded a bus to serve the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
What you have to do is be feisty, Franks said, quoting his father. F is for focus; you need to get some of that in your life. E, you need to put energy behind that focus. I is for integrity; if you ever give it up, it's gone forever. S, solve the problem, whether it's on the store front or in the military. T, take the blame when no one else will. And Y; yes, I do windows.
Franks also talked about national security, threats to world peace and the likelihood of working with fellow countries on pressing issues such as a nuclear-armed North Korea. For the latter, he suggested a diplomatic approachrather than a military approachwith nations such as China and Russia would provide the best results.
Overall, however, Franks' message was one of values, leadership and admiration for the entrepreneurial spirit of the fuel-marketing and convenience-retailing industry: You have to do the right thing when nobody's watching, he said. That's discipline. I'm proud of you, and I'm proud of what you represent in our country.
Preceding Franks' speech, outgoing NACS chairman Scott Hartman, president of Rutter's, York, Pa., passed the gavel to his successor. Sam Turner, president of Calfee Co., Dalton, Ga., will serve NACS as its chairman of the board of directors for the coming year.
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