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

by Bert Thornton

If you wake up one morning and realize you have to travel through a jungle, it would make sense for you to find an “old gorilla” and take him or her along. The "old gorillas" are the ones who know where all the good pathways are—as well as the quicksand that can bring you down. With Find an Old Gorilla: Pathways Through the Jungle of Business and Life, Bert Thornton stakes his claim as one of these wise and seasoned guides. The vice chairman emeritus of Waffle House Inc., Bert joined the company as a manager trainee and helped it become an iconic restaurant chain, retiring as its president and chief operations officer.

Find an Old Gorilla is the rising high achiever’s guide to what to do next. In it, Bert shares how to 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, and capitalize on the strategies and secrets of effective leadership.

Filled with advice and practical strategies, this emerging leader’s handbook is the precursor and perfect companion to High-Impact Mentoring. If you are a mentor, you may want two copies of Find an Old Gorilla : one for you and one for your mentee. And if you run a mentoring program or are hiring Bert to speak to your organization or group, please consider ordering multiple copies for a bulk discount.

Genres: Business

74 pages, Paperback

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]

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.