Interview with Cal Turner, Jr., August 8, 2013

Interview Summary

Cal Turner, Jr. says the family business and religion were the formative influences in his early life. He talks about his memories of members of his family. Turner talks about how his father helped his grandfather acquire inventory from merchants that failed during the Great Depression, and how they would turn over that inventory. He talks about the difficult emotions of achieving business success upon the faltering of others. Turner talks about his early education in public school and church. He describes his teachers and church leaders as major influences on his life. He recalls various events of his childhood and life in small town America. Turner talks about his conversion experience and the influences of church and community on his character. He says many church members encouraged him to be a minister, but a Methodist minister advised him to try other professions before considering the clergy. He says this set him on a course to enter the family business.

Turner describes going on visits to stores with his father as a child. He says his earliest calling for religious ministry occurred in his early teens, but the conversation with a clergyman that changed his mind took place in his late teens. He talks about his father and grandfather establishing a wholesale business based on liquidated merchandise, and market factors which compelled them to switch to a retail model. Turner talks about the establishment of the first Dollar General store in Springfield, Kentucky in 1955. He says the wholesale business began in 1939 as J. L. Turner & Son, and went into retailing in 1945. He says the early retail stores were 50 percent partnerships with the local manager and he describes advanced agreements for store valuation upon liquidation of the partnerships. Turner says that business is how to take care of family. He says his father suggested running the business like a church, which meant keeping a family orientation. He talks about his relationships with his father and mother.

Turner says he decided to attend Vanderbilt University after his father offered to pay the cost. He recalls his experiences in attending college. Turner talks about his experiences as a United States Naval officer after college and the life lessons he learned. Turner talks about transitioning out of the Navy and into leadership with J. L. Turner & Son. He talks about his father's style of management before the company went public. He talks about using the word "now" from doodles his father made in making management telephone calls as the acronym "Needed Outcome of Work" which was a company efficiency initiative.

Turner says that his grandfather's principle of successful competition was to control overhead costs and achieve efficiency. He talks about Dollar General's market niche and its target customer base. Turner talks about listening skills as the key to leadership. He says a company leader has to overcome the natural reluctance of employees to be candid in answers. Turner talks about the process of taking the company public. Turner talks about the decision in the late '70s for him to take the role of company president while his father became chairman. He talks about taking strategic planning training along with several of his executives.

Turner talks about the role strategic planning played in the success of Dollar General. He talks about the size and geographic locations of the company when it became publicly traded. He attributes the success of the company to its employees and customers and to running it as a religious ministry. Turner quotes his remarks upon retirement saying that DG stood for "doing good." He asserts that business leadership is inseparable from spiritual faith. Turner talks about his personal mission statement which emphasizes love as a human value. Turner says that the greatest challenge he ever faced in life and business was the period following two major acquisitions in 1986 which put the company in financial difficulty bordering on bankruptcy. He attributes the problem to a leadership crisis between him as CEO and his brother who was COO, based on sibling rivalry. He talks about dismissing his brother from the business, shortly followed by the death of his mother and the board's decision to force his father's resignation over a refusal to adopt computer automation. He says the crisis was caused by a lack of clear leadership that a public company needed. Turner talks about his brother's career in banking after leaving Dollar General. He talks about his mutually affectionate relationship with his brother and the rest of his family with whom he reconciled after the management crisis. He closes by offering advice to incoming undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky to understand the limitations of knowledge and the need for lifetime learning.

Interview Keyword

United States. Navy. Military service, Voluntary--United States. Vanderbilt University Childhood Education--Kentucky Churches--Kentucky

Interview LC Subject

Family-owned business enterprises. Religion Dollar General Store (Firm) Management. Families

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.