
A Friday-night encounter in an Arkansas poultry plant stayed with Donald “Donnie” King through his rise to CEO of Tyson Foods. His career asks a practical question: how close can a leader stay to the people doing the work?

An hourly job in an Arkansas chicken plant became a career across the food business. As Donnie King hands over the CEO role at Tyson Foods, his record turns on the distance between the factory floor and the boardroom.