How to Find One's Sustainable Joy, Part 2

Two weeks ago, the blog discussed Walter Orthman of Brazil as an example of being happy in one company for more than 85 years. This week, the focus is on Harland David Sanders of Henryville, Indiana, USA. Harland's father passed away when he was five years old. He had to cook for his siblings at the age of seven and became skilled in making food from the ingredients foraged in the wild. By age 10, Harland started working as a farmhand. He worked various jobs throughout the majority of his life such as painting horse carriages, a streetcar conductor, a soldier in the Army, a blacksmith's helper, and a steam engine stoker. He earned his law degree by correspondence courses and started practicing law. His career as an attorney ended when he had a brawl with his client in the courtroom. Harland then worked as a life insurance salesman. In between all these jobs, he always knew that he wanted to be his own boss for his own business.

Harland had a sharp eye for what customers needed and capitalized on filling those needs. He ran a ferry company at the age of 30 and become an instant success. He then ran several gas stations when he was 40. In his Corbin, Kentucky station, he noticed that customers would ask for food in addition to filling up gas in their cars. He quickly opened Sanders Court and Cafe to serve hot food 24/7. His fried chicken became so popular that he had to acquire a motel to accommodate the demand. At one time, the restaurant inside the motel could serve up to 140 customers in one sitting. When he turned 62 after various employment and business ventures, Harland began franchising his "secret recipe" for chicken fried in pressure cookers in Southern Salt Lake City, Utah. Not only was Harland a savvy business man of filling the needs of customers, but also knew how to market his products. By adding Kentucky to his fried chicken, the naming gave the food at his first franchise the feel of Southern comfort food and the imagery of Southern hospitality. That was the birth of today's KFC. Harland sold KFC, USA when he turned 73. 

After a lifetime of ups and downs in various jobs and business ventures, Harland finally found his true identity at the age of 60 when he became Colonel Sanders. The identity was not only for playing a role as KFC's image ambassador, but what he truly identified with. To become that identity, Harland grew a goatee and dressed consistently in a white frock coat and a Western string tie. For the final two decades of his life, Colonel Sanders exclusively donned a thick woolen suit for winter and a light cotton suit in the summer whenever he was in public. To enhance his identity, Harland lightened his goatee to match his snowy white hair. According to John Y. Brown Jr., Sanders was a brilliant businessman who possessed a sophisticated taste for food, a forward-thinking mindset, and exceptional leadership abilities, along with a flair of an entertainer and the strictness of Vince Lombardi. Essentially, Harland had identified Colonel Sanders as his true identity after nearly 30 years of practicing this role. He was buried dressed as Colonel Sanders at the age of 90. He was faithful and true to his identity till the end. Perhaps, we can all learn to feel the joy of finding our own identities as Harland did by not giving up. We humans are resilient as we are capable of finding our identities and joy whether it may be a more than 85 years of the same employment as Walter from Part One of this series or as Colonel Sanders in all different jobs. The third and final post of the sustainable joy series will tell the story of three sisters and their amazing achievements. If you enjoy my posts, please click on the blue follow button by my profile picture and comment.

Jason Chen, PhD