Chicken Willie Redux

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Here we look back to an earlier entry about the Clinton Presidency, grown men in chicken suits, and plain clothes FBI agents. It all starts with enthusiastic voter-business owner, a visit to downtown Atlanta where a crowd awaits a Presidential motorcade.

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I GOT THE CALL while driving up the expressway after work one Friday. President Bill Clinton was visiting our city and I had a very excited client on the phone.

"Clint! You've got to look for me on the local news tonight! I should be on a story about President Clinton."

"What?" I replied. "You hate President Clinton."

"I know but you have to watch! My brother and I were wearing our chicken suits along the motorcade and something happened. We were interviewed by reporters."

This was when I learned that my valued client, paragon of the community, successful entrepreneur and businessman had a side to him I did not know.

It turns out he was politically active. No, he was politically passionate. How could I not know that?

And, he explained, he took great offense during Bill Clinton's campaign against George H. W.  Bush in 1992 when Clinton operatives started showing up at Bush rallies in chicken suits carrying "Chicken George" signs. It made him so mad that he bought two chicken suits that he and his brother would wear at Clinton rallies and events carrying "Chicken Willie" signs. This had been going on for a long time. It was years since Bill Clinton had first been elected.

"I was along the motorcade route in my chicken suit with my sign having a great time talking with people. But the motorcade was delayed and then more delayed. And, then someone tapped me on my shoulder."

"When I turned around it was a tall guy in a black suit holding and Secret Service badge. He asked me if it was my box labeled Chicken Suit in the stairwell of a nearby office building."

"I knew this was no time to lie."

My client, we will call him Mike, explained he had carried his chicken suit in the box and changed in the stairwell. The Secret Service found the box and called the bomb squad. The President's motorcade was rerouted. The news crews caught the his meeting with the Secret Service but it did not make the nightly news to Mike's disappointment.

So, what's my point? Mike was a successful entrepreneur, whose success created hundreds of jobs. He created a great business from an idea, perseverance, and passion while he was still in college. He is someone to be admired. And, at least in this one respect, he was a bit eccentric.

People who take on the challenge of building and growing a great business are not milk toast. Many of them have quirks. Some (not Mike)  are downright difficult to deal with.

But most of them share one trait. They are passionate about what they do. And they act when they see something that needs to be fixed.

Like Chicken Willie.

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