KFC’s president started washing dishes at 13 but dreamt of being the ‘female Richard Branson’—so she quit jobs that wouldn’t embrace her personality
Source: Fortune ·
KFC’s president Catherine Tan-Gillespie started her career on just £1.20/hour—and promotion after promotion led her to the top of the fried chicken chain.
From the source
Catherine Tan-Gillespie took the helm of KFC U.S. last year—but she didn’t get there by playing it safe. Rather than chasing fancy titles or splashy paychecks throughout her career, she’s gravitated toward jobs that pushed her out of her comfort zone, forced her to take risks, and taught her to embrace a little chaos. “I wasn’t chasing money, I wasn’t chasing title,” Tan-Gillespie, 52, told Fortune. “I was chasing opportunities that put me in the learning zone as opposed to in the comfort zone—and tried to keep me out of the panic zone.” Tan-Gillespie grew up in a middle-class household in the U.K., with her mom working as a nurse and her dad a lighting director for the BBC, and her experience in the restaurant industry began early. At 13, Tan-Gillespie landed a job washing dishes at Beefeater, a now-defunct British restaurant chain, for just £1.20 an hour (about £3.62 or $4.84 today, adjusted for inflation). She eventually was promoted over to the ice cream machine—and began to grow…