Leadership With Vulnerability and ThanksgivingSample

Day One: God Redirects Us

Almost everyone loves a good hamburger, but Lynsi Snyder takes hamburgers—and leadership—to another level.

Recently on my podcast, I had a conversation with Lynsi Snyder, owner of the multibillion-dollar company, In-N-Out Burger. If you don’t live near one of the 363 (and counting) In-n-Out Burger locations, you might not be familiar with the restaurant’s story. In-N-Out was founded by Lynsi’s grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, in 1948. Harry helped pioneer the two-way speaker, which perfectly fit the booming car culture of southern California. Funnily enough, McDonald’s launched just down the road around that time, but the companies took very different paths. One went frozen and franchised, while the other one went fresh and remains family-owned. Today In-N-Out Burger is the highest rated fast-food chain, and Lynsi has an unheard of CEO rating on www.glassdoor.com…look it up for yourself!

Things didn’t start out simple for Lynsi, though. Because of various family tragedies, including the death of her uncle whom she was very close to at age 11, followed by her father when she was 17 years old, Lynsi had an attorney when she was still in high school, and she was forced to prepare a will by age twenty. No child is really prepared to take over a massive company. While In-N-Out Burger has always been family-owned, Lynsi had a choice to make about taking the leadership position. The uncertainty of life, and unexpected opportunities God presents, are some of the reasons she believes so strongly in the power of prayer.

She told me that she went through a season of asking God, over and over, “Why did you take my family and leave me in this?” Being thrust into leadership and responsibility at such a young age carried an almost crushing weight. She discovered that many people wanted to be close to her or influence her for the wrong reasons. But there was a moment when she was waiting at a stoplight in her car, praying with all her heart, and she burst into tears. Her heart broke—and at the same time was filled with peace. God was answering her prayer. Lynsi goes deeper into this in our interview, but what she learned that day was that trusting in God is never misplaced. God had a purpose to accomplish through her life, even if the path wasn’t yet clear.

“I may have had some plans,” she told me, “but God redirected things.”

We don’t need to be the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company to recognize the truth and wisdom in that. In tomorrow’s devotional, we’ll look at the role of vulnerability in Lynsi’s leadership. And if you stay until the final day, she’ll reveal the story behind In-N-Out’s legendary secret menu…and her own secret order.

To Consider

Have you ever planned something, only for God to redirect you? What was the result?

What does your prayer life look like today?

To Pray

God, thank you for always going before me, and never forsaking me. Help me to trust you, and to be unafraid when you lead. Amen.