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The originator and chief executive of the chain is a bluff, zesty man who believes absolutely in the company motto that is imprinted on the necktie that he wears: "It's a wonderful world." Kemmons Wilson likes to make points with maxims. One favorite: "The only people who don't have problems are the people who don't do anything." A high school dropout, he is also fond of remarking with put-on bad grammar: "When you ain't got no education, you just got to use your brains." Like many visionaries, he takes an uncomplicated view of the world that leaves little room for doubt. "When you get an idea," he says, "you've got to think of a reason for doing it, not of a reason for not doing it."
At work, Wilson runs mostly a one-man show, insisting on the last word in most major decisions and many small ones. For example, he can quickly thumb down a motel site proposed to him by an aide after weeks of study because "I don't like the smell of it." But he will listen to almost anyone with an idea and has been known to strike a deal with "some good old boy" without even discussing it with other high company officers. When he found the price of marble in Brazil to his liking, he made a snap decision to use some of it in his new inns there, calling to an aide: "Buy—that's my language." Says Wilson:
"I've been accused of lots of things, but never indecision."
Wilson generally sleeps about five hours a night and fortifies himself with catnaps the rest of the time; at a dinner party a few weeks ago he dropped off for two full minutes while still holding his fork. His main diversion is tennis, and he plays as often as he can at home or on business trips round the world. "Just call me an international tennis player," he quips. Despite an old leg injury, which has left him with a slight limp, he plays a strong, fast game and above all loves to win.
For all his wealth, Wilson remains determinedly middle class in his values, tastes and habits. He drives a $2,100 Japanese-made Suburu, a stubby, yellow compact car; typically, he owns the Suburu distributorship in ten Southern and Southwestern states. His taste in food is to haute cuisine what motel design is to Renaissance architecture. He greatly admires the kosher hot dogs sold by Nathan's Famous in New York City "because they snap when you bite into 'em," and, with his deep interest in the inner workings of almost everything, he can easily discourse on the best way to put a natural casing on a frankfurter.
Wilson also savors blackly well-done steaks and hamburgers, as well as spaghetti. He favors expensive bourbon but violates it with Tab to kill the alcoholic flavor. "I couldn't drink whisky if I had to taste it," he says. He sloshes everything except dessert with Tabasco sauce and keeps a quart bottle of it on the lazy Susan in the dining room of his home. When traveling, Wilson saves time by ordering his apple pie first and eating it while his steak is cooking. When in Memphis, he likes to take friends to the Little Pigs Barbecue, which has plastic-topped tables and a bathroom-tile floor.