May 21, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, George Bryan pays tribute to his older brother, John Bryan, a business leader who ran the Sara Lee Corporation and played a key role in creating Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. And when you
hear that music, it's time for our Final Thoughts series,
where we hear final thoughts about loved ones who've passed away.
And today's Final Thoughts is a bit different than usual.
It's a business story. John Bryan was running his family's
third generation sausage company, Brian Foods, until he moved to
(00:32):
Chicago to become the CEO of the well known parent company,
Sarah Lee. But who would run their family business? George
Brian picks up the story and honors his brother John.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When my brother went to Chicago and I became president
of the company here, and I was twenty nine years old,
I guess. And when he told me that he wanted
me to run the business, of course I didn't want
to run the business. I told him to give it
to somebody else and I would back him up and
give me two or three years. But he wouldn't let
(01:07):
me do that. He wanted me to take over. And
of course I doubted myself, and I think he doubted too,
But I think he had enough confidence. He thought I
could learn it pretty quick. I'd been there, you know,
ten years, working all in the plant manufacturing, sales marketing.
(01:28):
I just hadn't run the business, but I knew a
lot about the business, and we had a lot of
good people there, you know, at the time, a lot
of seasoned veterans there that he thought would better support me,
maybe than somebody else. My name was Brian, for one,
and I didn't understand that. I didn't realize that. But
(01:48):
he thought that if I didn't fumble the ball, that
they would support me. And he was right. They did.
You know, our people enjoy working there, and they took
a lot of pride in it, which makes a big
difference now and because after a while I liked it.
But I didn't like it the first year or two
because I was trying to learn so much. And then
(02:11):
when he left. When he left, he told me he
was gonna he was gonna write a letter and send
it to me, and I didn't think a lot about it.
I thought, well, good, you know, I'm sure it'll tell
me a lot of what I need to do. I mean,
I just didn't think about it that much because I
was so busy thinking about the business and what I
was gonna do to run the business and work with people,
(02:33):
and you know, I wasn't waiting on the letter. Believe me,
I had a nod in my head that for about
a year that I didn't know what it was, but
it was just stress and trying to determine the right course,
you know. And I can remember being in an executive
meeting and I was making a decision. And this was
(02:57):
after maybe six months, and I had a lot of doubt,
and this one person said, I don't know whether your
brother would do it that a way. And I said, well,
you know where the train is. I said, it's right
out here. You can take it to Chicago if you
want to work for him anymore. And from then on
I didn't have any trouble making decisions because I'll never
(03:21):
forget it. And the whole committee just kind of looked
at him, and when I said that, he turned about
three shades of red. And he never questioned me again.
Not that I made every decision right, but he knew
I wasn't. I wasn't gonna let him throw my brother
up to me. And I never felt anything, you know,
(03:44):
bad about my brother. I mean, I respected him so much.
It didn't you know. I wasn't jealous of him or
anything like that. I didn't have those kind of feelings.
I just I just told him, I said, you can
go to Chicago if you want to work for him anymore.
And he didn't leave. I really wasn't thinking about the letter,
and then i'm I don't. Maybe a couple of months
(04:05):
later I received the letter from him that that really
explained how he thought, you know, the business should be run.
And uh, it was a classic letter of to your
brother what to do and what not to do. And
I s I still read it today, you know, And
and so I based my business philosophy off of that letter.
(04:30):
I read it many many times. And I don't know
whether anybody asked him to do it. I think he
was probably afraid because you know, he was running oh
overall business, so he didn't want Brian Foods to to fail.
So he did it, you know, for that he a
And if you kind of followed his letter, it's kind
(04:54):
of hard to fail, you know, if you really stayed
on what he said, se did George. Leadership of any
management involves properly selecting, training, organizing, and motivating the people.
You cannot spend too much time improving your skills for
(05:14):
doing this. And sometimes I think that's a natural. Some
people have it naturally, some people have to learn it.
I won't discuss all kinds of motivation techniques. It is
perhaps worthwhile to read up on this, but the ability
to motivate people is in a large part common sense
(05:36):
and instinct. To me, everybody has a different button to push.
You can't motivate everybody the same way. Some people you
have to praise. Some people like to be kicked in
the rear end, you know. But it's just different ways
to motivate people. And I tried to learn with each person,
(05:58):
each director, what to me how to motivate them, how
to get them fired up about their part of the
business and how important it was to the overall success
of the business. And that was that was interesting too.
And obviously you like some people better than others. You
got along better with others. Some people you didn't want
(06:19):
to meet with us frequently, you know, because you just
didn't didn't get along with them as well. But you
have to make yourself appreciate everybody that you're working with
and that everybody has a contribution. And so how do
you pull that out? How do you understand that?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And and we thought about that a lot I thought
about that a lot, and on planning we talked about
he talked about management does no planning will go nowhere.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
There are a lot of companies that really didn't plan
well in those days. Planning is by no means restricted
to formal budgets and long range plans. More importantly, my
judgment affecting planning is a continuous exercise expressed in an
attitude which causes everyone to be thinking creatively about what
(07:14):
can be done to constantly improve performance. And this was
a big factor for me. Is constant improvement, I'd say
every day. You know, everybody comes to work every day
wanted to make improvements, wanting to improve the business. And
I think you have to have that attitude. Prices can
be raised, yields can be improved, costs can be lord,
(07:35):
expenses can be reduced, and volume can be increased. Something
can always be done. We never had a defeatist attitude.
If we had a problem, we found a way to
correct the problem, then move on. Generally, even though we
presently have a strong momentum going for us, you should
always run scared. And that was embolden in me. You know,
(07:59):
to never be satisfied, to feel like you know we
can make you know, not that you don't praise people
when you have a good week or you know, but
but you've got to realize it all starts over the
next the next day, you know, And it's not about
what you did for me last week, is what you're
gonna do for me this week. So we had that
kind of attitude. We praised our success, but we didn't
(08:22):
linger on it. We didn't dwell on it. We were
always thinking about how to improved. And that came back
from my father and my uncle, you know, years ago.
They had the same drive when they started the business
in nineteen thirty six. They wanted to build a nice
business and grow it and improve it. And that's that
(08:42):
was instilled in us and my brother and in me,
and my brother instilled it in me. And he says
success breeds success unless complacency sets in. Therefore, never let
anyone be completely satisfied, for the job is never finished.
Good luck, sincerely, Johnny. So that's kind of where he ended.
(09:06):
He said, good luck. I'm gonna need a lot of luck.
But you know, I read the letter over and over
and probably read it later later on in my career
than I did early on. I mean I read it
and kind of memorized it, and you don't really realize
until five ten years later that you're operating under that philosophy.
(09:29):
You know that's been embedded in you and embedded in generations.
You know, from my grandfather to my father, to my
uncle to us. You know, it stays with you forever.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Final thoughts the leak John Bryan's letter to his brother
George here on our American Story
And we returned to our American stories. And when you
hear that music, it's time for our Final Thoughts series,
where we hear final thoughts about loved ones who've passed away.
And today's Final Thoughts is a bit different than usual.
It's a business story. John Bryan was running his family's
third generation sausage company, Brian Foods, until he moved to
(00:32):
Chicago to become the CEO of the well known parent company,
Sarah Lee. But who would run their family business? George
Brian picks up the story and honors his brother John.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When my brother went to Chicago and I became president
of the company here, and I was twenty nine years old,
I guess. And when he told me that he wanted
me to run the business, of course I didn't want
to run the business. I told him to give it
to somebody else and I would back him up and
give me two or three years. But he wouldn't let
(01:07):
me do that. He wanted me to take over. And
of course I doubted myself, and I think he doubted too,
But I think he had enough confidence. He thought I
could learn it pretty quick. I'd been there, you know,
ten years, working all in the plant manufacturing, sales marketing.
(01:28):
I just hadn't run the business, but I knew a
lot about the business, and we had a lot of
good people there, you know, at the time, a lot
of seasoned veterans there that he thought would better support me,
maybe than somebody else. My name was Brian, for one,
and I didn't understand that. I didn't realize that. But
(01:48):
he thought that if I didn't fumble the ball, that
they would support me. And he was right. They did.
You know, our people enjoy working there, and they took
a lot of pride in it, which makes a big
difference now and because after a while I liked it.
But I didn't like it the first year or two
because I was trying to learn so much. And then
(02:11):
when he left. When he left, he told me he
was gonna he was gonna write a letter and send
it to me, and I didn't think a lot about it.
I thought, well, good, you know, I'm sure it'll tell
me a lot of what I need to do. I mean,
I just didn't think about it that much because I
was so busy thinking about the business and what I
was gonna do to run the business and work with people,
(02:33):
and you know, I wasn't waiting on the letter. Believe me,
I had a nod in my head that for about
a year that I didn't know what it was, but
it was just stress and trying to determine the right course,
you know. And I can remember being in an executive
meeting and I was making a decision. And this was
(02:57):
after maybe six months, and I had a lot of doubt,
and this one person said, I don't know whether your
brother would do it that a way. And I said, well,
you know where the train is. I said, it's right
out here. You can take it to Chicago if you
want to work for him anymore. And from then on
I didn't have any trouble making decisions because I'll never
(03:21):
forget it. And the whole committee just kind of looked
at him, and when I said that, he turned about
three shades of red. And he never questioned me again.
Not that I made every decision right, but he knew
I wasn't. I wasn't gonna let him throw my brother
up to me. And I never felt anything, you know,
(03:44):
bad about my brother. I mean, I respected him so much.
It didn't you know. I wasn't jealous of him or
anything like that. I didn't have those kind of feelings.
I just I just told him, I said, you can
go to Chicago if you want to work for him anymore.
And he didn't leave. I really wasn't thinking about the letter,
and then i'm I don't. Maybe a couple of months
(04:05):
later I received the letter from him that that really
explained how he thought, you know, the business should be run.
And uh, it was a classic letter of to your
brother what to do and what not to do. And
I s I still read it today, you know, And
and so I based my business philosophy off of that letter.
(04:30):
I read it many many times. And I don't know
whether anybody asked him to do it. I think he
was probably afraid because you know, he was running oh
overall business, so he didn't want Brian Foods to to fail.
So he did it, you know, for that he a
And if you kind of followed his letter, it's kind
(04:54):
of hard to fail, you know, if you really stayed
on what he said, se did George. Leadership of any
management involves properly selecting, training, organizing, and motivating the people.
You cannot spend too much time improving your skills for
(05:14):
doing this. And sometimes I think that's a natural. Some
people have it naturally, some people have to learn it.
I won't discuss all kinds of motivation techniques. It is
perhaps worthwhile to read up on this, but the ability
to motivate people is in a large part common sense
(05:36):
and instinct. To me, everybody has a different button to push.
You can't motivate everybody the same way. Some people you
have to praise. Some people like to be kicked in
the rear end, you know. But it's just different ways
to motivate people. And I tried to learn with each person,
(05:58):
each director, what to me how to motivate them, how
to get them fired up about their part of the
business and how important it was to the overall success
of the business. And that was that was interesting too.
And obviously you like some people better than others. You
got along better with others. Some people you didn't want
(06:19):
to meet with us frequently, you know, because you just
didn't didn't get along with them as well. But you
have to make yourself appreciate everybody that you're working with
and that everybody has a contribution. And so how do
you pull that out? How do you understand that?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And and we thought about that a lot I thought
about that a lot, and on planning we talked about
he talked about management does no planning will go nowhere.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
There are a lot of companies that really didn't plan
well in those days. Planning is by no means restricted
to formal budgets and long range plans. More importantly, my
judgment affecting planning is a continuous exercise expressed in an
attitude which causes everyone to be thinking creatively about what
(07:14):
can be done to constantly improve performance. And this was
a big factor for me. Is constant improvement, I'd say
every day. You know, everybody comes to work every day
wanted to make improvements, wanting to improve the business. And
I think you have to have that attitude. Prices can
be raised, yields can be improved, costs can be lord,
(07:35):
expenses can be reduced, and volume can be increased. Something
can always be done. We never had a defeatist attitude.
If we had a problem, we found a way to
correct the problem, then move on. Generally, even though we
presently have a strong momentum going for us, you should
always run scared. And that was embolden in me. You know,
(07:59):
to never be satisfied, to feel like you know we
can make you know, not that you don't praise people
when you have a good week or you know, but
but you've got to realize it all starts over the
next the next day, you know, And it's not about
what you did for me last week, is what you're
gonna do for me this week. So we had that
kind of attitude. We praised our success, but we didn't
(08:22):
linger on it. We didn't dwell on it. We were
always thinking about how to improved. And that came back
from my father and my uncle, you know, years ago.
They had the same drive when they started the business
in nineteen thirty six. They wanted to build a nice
business and grow it and improve it. And that's that
(08:42):
was instilled in us and my brother and in me,
and my brother instilled it in me. And he says
success breeds success unless complacency sets in. Therefore, never let
anyone be completely satisfied, for the job is never finished.
Good luck, sincerely, Johnny. So that's kind of where he ended.
(09:06):
He said, good luck. I'm gonna need a lot of luck.
But you know, I read the letter over and over
and probably read it later later on in my career
than I did early on. I mean I read it
and kind of memorized it, and you don't really realize
until five ten years later that you're operating under that philosophy.
(09:29):
You know that's been embedded in you and embedded in generations.
You know, from my grandfather to my father, to my
uncle to us. You know, it stays with you forever.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Final thoughts the leak John Bryan's letter to his brother
George here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Come hang with Amy Poehler. Each week on her podcast, she'll welcome celebrities and fun people to her studio. They'll share stories about their careers, mutual friends, shared enthusiasms, and most importantly, what's been making them laugh. This podcast is not about trying to make you better or giving advice. Amy just wants to have a good time.