[Leadership Vault] Dee Ann Turner: Building A Remarkable Culture Around Talent

by Jeff Bond

At the core of my work is helping global business, communications, and people leaders create meaningful engagement with their teams and customers. Together with my wonderful colleagues at Chat With Leaders Media and People First Elevation Team, we deliver all-hands meeting support, content, podcasts, creative, cross-cultural training, speaker coaching, and strategic advisory solutions. We are committed to unlocking the power of inclusive storytelling, shared experiences, leadership development, and mixed media to help our clients authentically connect with their most important stakeholders.

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Chat Guest

Dee Ann is a 33-year veteran of Chick-fil-A, Inc. Prior to retirement in 2018, she was Vice President, Talent, and Vice President, Sustainability for Chick-fil-A, Inc. Selected as the company’s first female officer in 2001, she was instrumental in building and growing Chick-fil-A’s well-known culture and talent systems. During her long career, she worked closely with Chick-fil-A’s founder, S. Truett Cathy, and other key leaders as an architect of their organizational culture. Turner was responsible for thousands of selections of Chick-fil-A Franchisees and corporate staff members. Additionally, she led Talent Management, Staff Learning, and Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Culture and Engagement. Most recently, Dee Ann launched and led the Sustainability function, focusing on Chick-fil-A’s strategy to implement sustainable practices at the $10.5 billion company.

Today, she leads her own organization, Dee Ann Turner & Associates, LLC, writing books, speaking to over 50 audiences per year, and consulting and coaching leaders globally. She is the author of the best-seller, It’s My Pleasure: The Impact of Extraordinary Talent and a Compelling Culture. Her latest book is Bet on Talent: How to Create a Remarkable Culture and Win the Hearts of Customers was released in September 2019 and her new book will be released in April 2021.

She is a graduate of Clayton State University with a degree in Management. She also completed executive education courses at Emory University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia’s Darden Business School. She is a 2009 alumna of the prestigious Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.

Dee Ann has been married to her husband, Ashley for 35 years and they are the parents of three grown sons. She has served on numerous non-profit boards in the past including The Kenya Project, Eagle Ranch, and Proverbs 31 Ministries. She has also served on the board of advisors for Lubbock Christian University and First Care Clinics. Currently, she serves on the board of advisors for Unconventional Business Network Women and the advisory board for the Pure Hope Foundation. When she is not traveling, she can often be found on her Peloton bike in her home outside of Atlanta or on her stand-up paddle board at Lake Hartwell in northeast Georgia.

Chat Highlights

What’s the story of how your leadership journey began with Chick-fil-A and how that’s evolved into writing your 2 books, “It’s My Pleasure” and “Bet On Talent”?
Unemployment rates have soared to nearly 15% with BLS predictions as high as 20% in the next 12 months. When you released your book Bet On Talent in 2019, we were celebrating under 2% unemployment. What does drastic change in the world around us mean for employers?
Culture can be such a loaded word. How do you define a great culture and what can leaders be doing now to strengthen their own cultures during this uncertain time?
You’ve seen multiple economic downturns followed by recoveries in your career. What advice would you have for leaders to better prepare for these inevitable shifts in the future to survive and thrive?
What can leaders do today to clarify their purpose, values, mission, and talent strategies while keeping their business moving forward into the recovery phases of COVID-19?