For Natalie Morhous, leadership means carrying forward a 90-year legacy while helping shape what comes next. A third-generation leader of RaceTrac, Inc., Natalie spent five years as the company’s president before becoming CEO in January 2024. Today, she leads the Atlanta-headquartered company, which has more than 15,000 team members across three divisions: Convenience, with more than 850 RaceTrac® and RaceWay® stores; Fuels, with approximately 1,200 Gulf® branded locations and Energy Dispatch™; and Restaurants, with more than 445 Potbelly Sandwich Works® shops.
In this edition, Natalie Morhous shares the books that have shaped her perspective, the qualities she believes make a good leader, and the lessons she’s learned throughout her career. She also offers advice for those just starting out, from taking risks to finding a workplace where you can thrive.
What books have you read this year?
I love to read and spend a lot of my free time with a book. A few of my favorites are May Contain Lies and Unreasonable Hospitality—for very different reasons. One speaks more to culture, while the other explores business and leadership, but I love them both. More recently, I read Homeseeking, a work of fiction that I found incredibly thought-provoking and beautiful.
What is the most important character trait for a good leader?
Far and away, the most important character trait is being a good listener. Leaders can struggle when they think they have all the answers and when they think they need to have all the answers. For me, listening to the people around me makes my analysis and decisions better.
What advice would you give to young professionals starting their career?
What comes to mind first when I think about risk-taking is a chapter in Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg called “It’s a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder” that I read a long time ago. I think that’s some of the best advice you can give someone early in their career. Take risks by moving sideways, and sometimes even moving down on your way to moving up, if that’s what you aspire to do in your career.
Work for an organization whose culture and values align with yours. When culture and values clash, work can become a struggle. Work shouldn’t be a struggle. Work should be fun.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
The best advice I’ve ever been given came from my dad. He told me, “Make failure your friend, but if you’re going to fail, fail fast.” I love that advice, and I try to create a culture at RaceTrac where failure is both celebrated and tolerated, while still being thoughtful about the risks we take. We test fast and test small, knowing that failure is part of the process. The more we learn from those failures, the better we can understand what works and ultimately find our way to success.
