Building Value to Last: Transitioning from Flying J to FJ Management

by Crystal Maggelet, Sarah Ryther Francom (Contributor), Laura Best Smith (Contributor)

Discover the inspiring story of how Crystal Maggelet unexpectedly ended up as CEO of her father’s company, guiding Flying J back from bankruptcy and on to great success―all during the throes of the Great Recession of the late 2000s. Through it all, Crystal succeeded by maintaining the core philosophy handed down through generations of the Call family―the importance of building value that will last. Cowritten by Crystal herself, Building Value to Last compiles accounts from her own recollections and personal journals, as well as from interviews with key personnel.

256 pages, Hardcover

Published May 21, 2019

Reviews

[Gygi Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read, I learned a lot about the company and the struggles that they went through to come out of Bankruptcy. Very interesting and inspiring

[Winterpg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed learning about the building go Flying J

[Lisa-Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crystal tells a fascinating and dramatic story about being thrown into her family business after the tragic death of her father in a plane crash. Although she was raised around her dad's Flying J oil and truckstop empire ($4B annual sales, 11,000 workers), she was not very active in the company prior to his untimely 2003 death. But just a few years later, in 2008, the Utah-based company was on the brink of bankruptcy and Crystal left her home life with four young children to step in. "We owed billions of dollars to thousands of creditors. Our longtime CEO and president would soon depart from the company. Was I up to the challenge of leading Flying J out of this tumultuous period?" Crystal discovered that some of the company's leaders made a series of bad decisions which stretched the company to the breaking point. Her ability to assess situations, even in the middle of a financial disaster, was impressive.

I love entrepreneurial stories of family business and this was one with plenty of ups and downs. Crystal is required to renegotiate an enormous debt load with banks, cancel major initiatives, sell under-performing assets, and keep faith with her family's original values. She takes you through the deal-making blow by blow, which may be too much for some readers but I ate it up. "Many employees felt betrayed...How did we, the leaders at the top, let this happen - especially with no warning? I understood why they were angry. Flying J had always been a risk-taking company, but this time we'd gone too far. It wasn't just going to impact our balance sheet; these people, many of whom had worked for decades at the company were at risk of losing their jobs." In fact, many do lose their jobs. Crystal doesn't pull punches or glorify the decisions she was forced to make. "As I listened to the CRO, I was filled with guilt, anger, sadness, and embarrassment. As leader of the company, I knew it was my responsibility to take ownership of the multitude of problems we had caused." She admits to some errors in communicating her intentions to the bulk of employees and describes her course corrections. I liked her honesty. You can't help cheering for her as she reinvents the company in an entirely new direction and I will be interested to see where she goes from here.