Page 113 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Standards

himself), which meant looking in the wastebaskets and finding
out what people were throwing out. While the practice was
unsavory at best, it revealed the need to be always vigilant to
what the customer was telling us silently about our food, and
that led to many a review of basic operations in those restau-
rants where issues were discovered.
This proactive stance was embraced at the top. As Ed Rensi
explains: “I want to know the problems today. I don’t want pim-
ples to turn into boils. Tell me the bad news yesterday. Good
news I could wait six months for. Because good news isn’t a
threat. Bad news is a problem. I always said this my whole life:
‘Do the hard things first, because the easy stuff gets really easy.’
Nobody wants to do the hard stuff first.” We embraced tack-
ling “the hard stuff” first. No heads in the sand. No wishing
problems would resolve themselves. It’s that very standard that
helped build McDonald’s, leaving competitors behind.
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One on One with Fred Turner

o this day, standards of the system are on Fred Turner’s
Tmind, all the time. Even as the honorary chairman, it is held
clearly as a passion. And there is nothing more critical than
McDonald’s fries to our customers. As Fred and I sat and
discussed fries, his concern over the latest dietary trends, and
some subtle taste differences, I sensed a deep concern. His voice
changed and his head dropped, and he actually got emotional,
shedding a tear with me on this conversation.
Taken aback, I realized the depth of this man’s passion for high
standards. No wonder generations of McDonald’s leadership has
been “obsessed” with quality. McDonald’s has a legacy of passion

as exemplified by Fred Turner to this day.