Find an Old Gorilla: Pathways Through the Jungle of Business and Life

by Bert Thornton

Navigating the jungles of business and life is tricky business, but there are old gorillas out there that can help.

They are the ones who know where all the pathways are—as well as the quicksand that can bring you down.

Bert Thornton, the vice chairman emeritus of Waffle House Inc., is one of those He joined the company as a manager trainee and helped it become an iconic restaurant chain, retiring as its president and chief operations officer. In this guidebook to success, he shares how

use basic techniques to effectively focus on business and life success;
evaluate and confront problems in an orderly fashion;
find and work with the right mentor at the right time;
follow time-proven Basic Laws of Success;
capitalize on the strategies and secrets of effective leadership.

Find An Old Gorilla is an essential guide for the rising high achiever.

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 23, 2015

About the author

Bert Thornton was president of the student body at TR Robinson High School in Tampa, Florida and attended Georgia Tech on a full football scholarship. He was on officer in the US Army and served a year in Vietnam. Bert worked 2 years with NCR’s IT department (back then it was called EDP–electronic data processing) before joining Waffle House, Inc. as a manager trainee. Four years later, he became vice president.

Bert was appointed President and Chief Operations Officer of Waffle House, Inc. and helped build the company to its present iconic status; one of the largest 24-hour restaurant chains in the world. He retired from restaurant operations in 2011 and remains as Vice Chairman Emeritus.

If you are a fan of Waffle House, he is also the Bert of “Bert’s Chili”. Bert developed the recipe in 1983 and it is one of Waffle House’s most popular items with over 11 million servings sold each year.

Bert and his wife, Kathy, have three daughters, all Georgia Tech graduates, as is he.

He is an active mentor of high school and college-aged students as well as young and middle-aged businessmen and women.

Bert thinks excellence in early education, guidance and development is critical and he has a Board role with a charter public elementary/middle school in DeKalb County, Georgia. Bert enjoys golf and hunting.

Reviews

[Guy Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Bert a number of years ago as I was writing my Marketing Machine book. He gave me some great insights about Waffle House and how they have operationalized the business. His metaphor of the Gorilla is perfect for learning from the best. I highly recommend it.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book with sage advice for the entrepreneur.