Be a Shepherd

Teacher. Leader. Shepherd. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words and actions have inspired millions around the globe.

This past weekend was one of Chobani’s most special moments, when Dr. Bernice King and the King Center awarded our young company with a Salute to Greatness Award.

The award isn’t mine, it reflects the hard work and commitment of the entire Chobani family, trying every day to make our world a little bit better, one person and one community at a time.

On this #MLKDay, we humbly accept this award as a sign that together we are headed in the right direction.

Here are some thoughts I shared in Atlanta on behalf of Chobani.

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Thank you, Dr. King.

On behalf of the 2,000 women and men of Chobani, I am humbled to accept this award. They are my brothers and sisters. Some of them traveled a long way to be here tonight.

This award is about them much more than it is about me. They are the ones who prove every day that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

What we make every day is yogurt. What we really want to do is make a difference. For our communities. For our customers. For each other.

Before we go any further, I’d like the Chobani family here tonight to stand and be recognized. Thank you for welcoming our family into your family tonight. Because it feels like we are with family.

In my culture, the highest tribute you can pay is to call somebody “uncle.” I know that for some of you, Martin Luther King was literally your uncle, or your father, or your friend.

And while I come from half a world away, I feel like Martin Luther King was my uncle, too.

Fifty-five years ago, Dr. King made freedom ring in the Rockies. He made freedom ring on Stone Mountain in Georgia. He made freedom ring on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. I am here to tell you that he also made freedom ring on the Munzur mountains in Turkey.

That’s where I grew up, the son of a dairy herder.

That is where I learned how to be a shepherd. And I heard that message.

That is where I learned that a shepherd is a watchman and a guardian.

That he is a provider and a leader.

And sometimes, a shepherd is a savior, carrying a lost sheep home.

It was my father who taught me the ancient way of being a shepherd. But it was Dr. King who taught me to be a shepherd for today’s world.

It was Dr. King who taught me that all of us could be shepherds for dignity, and shepherds for justice, and shepherds for freedom.    

It was Dr. King who taught me that “we can all be great because we can all serve.”

That "the time is always right to do what is right.”

That “even if I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

And it was Dr. King who taught all of us that “life’s most urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?” That what matters most is not what you do for yourself. What matters most is the difference you make for others.

I don’t live near the Munzur Mountains anymore. I traded it for two valleys – the Unadilla Valley in central New York and the Magic Valley in Idaho. Those are the places where we make yogurt.

Dr. King’s message rings true there, too.      

That’s where the people you just recognized – and their brothers and sisters – stand shoulder to shoulder and believe strongly that all of us have the ability and the responsibility to be shepherds in any way we can.

My friends, that is where our company gets its name.

“Chobani” is the Turkish word for “shepherd.” For every trouble we see in the world, we try to answer it with Chobani. We call it the Chobani way.

If you see a problem on refugees, on race, on income inequality, on injustice: Offer a solution.  Do something. Be a shepherd.

One cup, one person, one street, one community at a time – we all try to be shepherds in our own way.

Across every job – from filler operators to packagers, HR managers to our sales force, designers to drivers to fork lift operators who work day and night. We all live by Dr. King’s creed: that every effort made to uplift humanity matters. That no work is insignificant. And that every job has meaning.

As he instructed, we believe:

If you are called to sweep a factory floor, sweep it like Michelangelo painted.

If you are called to run a machine, run it as Maya Angelou wrote.

If you are called to drive a truck, drive it as Ray Charles played the piano.

And if, together, all of those efforts make a success, then together we should all share in that success. That is the creed we live by at Chobani.  That is how ordinary people, together, do extraordinary things. We have Dr. King to thank for that.

The Chobani family accepts this award as a sign that we are headed in the right direction.

So, as the son of a shepherd who grew up every day looking at a mountaintop, I promise you: the story you honor tonight has only begun to take flight.

And if we ever find we can’t fly, then we will run.

And if we can’t run, then we will walk.

And if we can’t walk, then we will crawl.

Whatever we do, as my Uncle, Martin Luther King inspired, we will keep moving forward in the fight for justice. One cup, one person, one street, and one community at a time.

On that journey, we are glad to have you by our side.

Thank you.