wfn.org | Businessman believes father-son relationship key to success

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 18, 2003 News media contact: Kathy Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	10-71B{147}

By J. Richard Peck*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The relationship between father and son is a key
ingredient in determining the type of man a person will become, according to
Cal Turner, chairman of Dollar General Corp.

Speaking to 170 leaders of United Methodist Men's ministries, Turner, 62,
said he uses questions related to father-son relationships in evaluating
candidates for jobs with the company, which has more than 6,000 stores in 27
states.

Turner spoke March 8 to conference presidents of United Methodist Men, prayer
advocates and hunger relief advocates. The speech helped introduce six
regional conferences on "Sons of the Father" to be held later this year.
 
Emphasizing the need for fathers to raise their sons to become independent
thinkers, Turner said he asks job candidates how they are different from
their fathers. He recalled a conversation he had with his father, who
co-founded the company with Turner's grandfather in 1939. 

After being named chief executive officer in 1977, Turner said he developed a
strategic plan to expand the stores. His plan was to give the company to the
people who have to run it. "The person in the battle can tell the general how
to win the war," he noted.

Under Turner's leadership, sales have grown from $100 million in 1977 to more
than $5 billion today. The number of Dollar General Stores doubled from 3,000
in 1997 to over 6,000 today. 

Turner said the only true measure of man is the stature of his children. "You
will never be the man your father was," he observed, "until you raise a son
as fine as you are."

An active member of Brentwood (Tenn.) United Methodist Church, Turner said
that while he felt called into the ministry, he has found that he can do much
as a Christian business man. 

Through Dollar General's learning center stores, the company has provided
training and jobs for 1,500 low-income people. 

"Service to others is the business of Dollar General," he said. 

Turner has supported many Methodist causes, including the Community Cares
Homeless Shelter of the Kentucky Annual Conference and Kenya Methodist
University. He has also endowed a chair in Wesleyan studies at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville. The Commission on United Methodist Men honored
Turner by inducting him into the Society of John Wesley in 2001.

Regional "Sons of the Father" conferences will be held in each jurisdiction
from March 28 to Oct. 12. For additional information on the "Sons of the
Father" conferences, contact Larry Coppock at (615) 340-7149 or
LCoppock@gcumm.org.

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*Peck is communications director for the Commission on United Methodist Men
in Nashville, Tenn.

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United Methodist News Service
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