George Tinsley Sr. of Tinsley Family Concessions: How My Experience in Athletics Trained Me to Become a Better Leader

An Interview With Vanessa Ogle

Athletics helps you understand how teamwork works from top to bottom. In business, and in the restaurant industry, you must understand how teams work all the way from ownership to the dish washers.

The world of sports is not just about physical prowess or competition; it’s an incubator for leadership qualities such as discipline, teamwork, strategic planning, and resilience. Athletes, from amateur levels to professional arenas, often encounter situations that test their limits and require them to step up in ways that mirror the challenges faced by leaders in various fields. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing George Tinsley, Sr.

George Tinsley Sr. (tinsleyspeaks.com), author of Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy By Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle, is a motivational speaker, motivational coach, and business advisor. He also is the president and CEO of Tinsley Family Concessions, which operates more than 60 restaurants at airports in Florida and Kentucky, including KFC, Chili’s, PF Chang’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Home Team Sports Bar and Grill, and Nathan’s Hot Dogs. Tinsley is a former professional basketball player in the ABA, and was a two-time college All-American at Kentucky Wesleyan College. He began his business career at KFC and quickly ascended the corporate ladder before taking the leap into franchise ownership.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career? What athletics did you participate in?

My business and private sector career began when a desire to make a living for my family increased, going from teaching to training in the private sector, and within that private sector, different opportunities became available due to my local professional athletic background. The doors of opportunity opened up for interviews. From then on, it was up to me to be successful. The relationships I built and the skill sets I developed through athletics have made me a better leader in terms of taking on challenges and not giving up, accepting obstacles and defeats, and being able to turn them into opportunities.

When I first entered corporate America, I realized many of the top executives had business degrees from top colleges, and my education came from a smaller school with a teaching background. However, my athletic background and experiences on the court helped me advance and meet challenges while others were not able to handle the pressure.

I played basketball at Kentucky Wesleyan College, where I won three NCAA championships, after which I was drafted and signed with the American Basketball Association Oakland Oaks, which moved to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Capitals. I played my first five games with the Washington Capitals before my contract was sold to the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels. I later played for the Miami Floridians and the New York Nets, both of the ABA.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

The most interesting story was when we turned a major obstacle of the №1 high-volume KFC burning to the ground into an opportunity while doubling the gross sales. We got creative after the fire, and I started selling chicken out of a KFC truck that I developed for community members as we rebuilt the restaurant. By doing so, we continued our momentum within the community, and I was able to keep my employees working in other restaurants so as to not lose talent. We took into consideration the challenges we had prior to the restaurant burning down before we started rebuilding, and when we reopened within a few months, the restaurant’s volume doubled.

Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. My positive mindset helped me move through a number of different challenges in athletics, personally and professionally. When I got into business, I understood that I have to project and maintain a positive mindset that my employees could work off of. I had developed this mindset early in my childhood of survival.
2. Being able to accept challenges. I always wanted to develop restaurants around my strong competition who were bringing customers into the market. I wasn’t afraid to compete. By having competition in the first place, it gave me an opportunity to attract those customers myself and grow my business.
3. Handling setbacks. Everyone in the industry faces setbacks. I had to close two restaurants, a KFC and a TGI Fridays. These setbacks are only momentary — you learn your lesson, and you have to bounce back. This comes from playing team sports and experiencing losses and learning from those losses so that you do not make the same mistake over again. You can step back and come back with a better plan. You always have to bounce back.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you share a pivotal moment in your athletic career that taught you a leadership lesson you’ve applied outside of sports?

A pivotal moment in my athletic career was the very first NCAA Division II championship game we won at Kentucky Wesleyan College. In this particular game, the five starters played the entire game, and we worked together to beat the division’s top-ranked team in the nation. It wasn’t until years later that I realized the significance of how we came together to beat this team. I understood my role as a player, how I impacted the chemistry of the team, and how to work with leadership to be a winning team.

This championship is when a “light” came on inside me, which got brighter every subsequent year, and helped us win two more championships. The experience flowed over into my educational career. I was the first African American to receive the Oak and Ivy award, was named Most Outstanding Player, and was a two-time All-American at Kentucky Wesleyan.

How has your experience in team dynamics within athletics influenced your approach to leadership in the workplace?

From a teamwork standpoint, understanding who is on your team and where your strong points are is key, both in athletics and in business. You have to recruit, train and retrain team members to work together. Everyone has to be involved, and everyone’s contributions must be part of the team’s success moving forward. You have to be intentional, give input, and make sure everyone feels good about what is happening around them.

As the team moves forward, everyone has to make a strong contribution. Additionally, having a plan and being able to check back against your progress is crucial for growth and moving forward in business.

In what ways has facing defeat or challenges in sports prepared you for handling failure and setbacks in your professional life? What role does resilience play in long term career success?

In athletics, and basketball in particular, when you lose a game, you go back and look into why you lost. Maybe you didn’t run the plays right, you played inconsistently or there was a bad quarter. You go back, understand what happened, and prepare to make sure that particular incident doesn’t happen again through practice, training, understanding your role and working on all parts of the game. You develop a winning attitude that carries you through tough times.

In the restaurant business, from an ownership standpoint, you’ve got to set the pace, show employees how important the customers are and make customers feel good about themselves. When your employees see you doing that and see how you carry yourself professionally, then they are going to do the same.

Resilience plays a big part in long-term career success. You’ve got to be able to bounce back quickly and be in it for the long haul. There will be all sorts of things you have to face in your career, so you have to prepare for those things as you move along, whether it be a traffic change, a fire or a pandemic. Making it in this industry requires resilience and teamwork.

How do you apply the discipline and training regimen from your athletic pursuits to your current leadership role?

You have to make a commitment to a regimented training program that you can always go back to, and that helps employees learn the philosophy and culture. In my business, we developed training programs for every person coming in, no matter if they were hourly or management. This way, we could introduce and implement the corporate philosophy and get them fully involved in the team.

Typically, when a new employee comes in, they will ask, “What is it like here?” or “What happens here?” If you have a lot of negativity, these employees won’t last long, and they will leave as soon as something goes wrong. Selecting a good employee is important, but training is key. Then, you have to set them up for success.

In athletics, training is just what you do. It’s practice, free throws, learning how plays are run, moving the ball and so forth. It’s the same thing when you get into the restaurant concept. Everyone has a role, and you need to understand how those roles work together. Then, you’ll become cross-trained to be able to not only do your own position but be able to do more positions as you grow through the business and step in when others don’t show up. All of that is training and teamwork.

Reflecting on your journey, what specific skills or attributes developed through athletics do you believe are most essential for effective leadership?

Having confidence in what you are doing, going through training and development with a positive attitude and understanding that you will have setbacks. Always being prepared by having a plan, even if that is just a roadmap that will eventually have changes. Being a team player and understanding how your talents coincide with others’ talents to create a winning team.

Based on your experience, can you please share “5 Ways That Athletics Can Help Train Great Leaders?”

1. Athletics helps you understand how teamwork works from top to bottom. In business, and in the restaurant industry, you must understand how teams work all the way from ownership to the dish washers.
2. Being a team player in all aspects of life. Even if your skill set might be superior to some of the people around you, whether it be at work or on the court, you must learn to respect their talents and use your talents to enhance theirs.
3. The competitive mindset developed through sports encourages you to never back down from competition in your career. It forces you to always put your best foot forward, which is very important in all aspects of life.
4. Building self-confidence that will allow you to execute when you are called upon to perform.
5. Being able to create a solid plan, while also understanding that your plans will eventually have to change. You become adaptable and you are prepared for challenges that might come your way.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Giving back by motivating our youth, and showing them that they can be successful in whatever they decide to do in life. They need to get a good education, be a good person, and surround themselves with positive people. I want to be a positive person to the youth in our community. Everyone needs someone to let them know they’re doing a good job, to get behind them, and to support them. That is the movement I would like to see today. The world needs more positive people who can motivate others to be the very best that they can be.

How can our readers further follow you online?

TinsleySpeaks.com, my autobiography Catch as Catch Can: Building a Legacy by Finding Opportunity in Every Obstacle, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About The Interviewer: Vanessa Ogle is a mom, entrepreneur, inventor, writer, and singer/songwriter. Vanessa’s talent in building world-class leadership teams focused on diversity, a culture of service, and innovation through inclusion allowed her to be one of the most acclaimed Latina CEO’s in the last 30 years. She collaborated with the world’s leading technology and content companies such as Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and Broadcom to bring innovative solutions to travelers and hotels around the world. Vanessa is the lead inventor on 120+ U.S. Patents. Accolades include: FAST 100, Entrepreneur 360 Best Companies, Inc. 500 and then another six times on the Inc. 5000. Vanessa was personally honored with Inc. 100 Female Founder’s Award, Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Enterprising Women of the Year among others. Vanessa now spends her time sharing stories to inspire and give hope through articles, speaking engagements and music. In her spare time she writes and plays music in the Amazon best selling new band HigherHill, teaches surfing clinics, trains dogs, and cheers on her children.

Please connect with Vanessa here on linkedin and subscribe to her newsletter Unplugged as well as follow her on Substack, Instagram, Facebook, and X and of course on her website VanessaOgle.