From the liberal Minneapolis Star Tribune. (H/T Powerline Blog)

Excerpt:

Herman Cain, the Republican presidential hopeful, says he can turn around the country just as he did Godfather’s Pizza 25 years ago.

Business success has never guaranteed political success. But Cain demonstrated during a tour with Pillsbury Co. in the 1980s that he is a successful, charismatic leader. With flair and hard work, he turned around Pillsbury’s struggling Philadelphia Burger King region and revived a near-dead Godfather’s Pizza.

“My career spans 38 years and I’ve worked for 26 different managers,” said Frank Taylor, a recently retired Burger King financial executive whom Cain hired as his regional controller in 1983. “Herman was far and away the best I’ve worked for in terms of getting a team together, sharing a vision and accomplishing the goals. And nothing diverted him.”

Cain also shared the wealth. When Burger King distributed $50,000 apiece to the regional vice presidents as reward for good performance in 1985, most of the regional bosses spent it on a trip to a posh resort for themselves and other managers and spouses. The enlisted troops got a dinner. Cain took everybody in his office, including administrative staff, on the same three-day reward cruise, Taylor recalled.

Cain, 65, the son of a domestic worker and a chauffeur, earned degrees in math and computer science and worked in computer systems and business analysis during 10 years in the Navy and at Coca-Cola. He moved to Pillsbury as a business analyst in 1977. He managed the move of Pillsbury into its new downtown Minneapolis headquarters in 1982. And, in 1983, Cain got a shot in field management at Pillsbury’s restaurant division.

The Philadelphia region of Burger King ranked near the bottom among Burger King’s 12 groups. Cain brought analytical strengths and energy. He fired and hired. He praised and exhorted the survivors. He turned the region into a top performer within two years.

“I worked with him fairly closely at Burger King,” recalled George Mileusnic, a former Pillsbury executive, now a Twin Cities consultant. “He was good strategically and good with people, including working long hours in Burger King stores to get that bottom-up experience. He had about 500 stores in that Philadelphia region and he did a great job.”

Herman Cain leads Romney by 1 point in the latest Iowa poll and leads Perry by 1 point in the latest Texas poll.