Page 128 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

with work, my supervisor would take some of the files, as would
the vice president, to help, too.”
Donn Wilson, who joined the company in 1957 by opening
and owning the eighteenth McDonald’s, went on to hold vari-
ous field positions within the company, becoming managing
director of McDonald’s in Australia, and later moved on to much
corporate success, including owning the Houston Astros. Donn
had this to say about leading by example: “It was throughout
the organization. Everybody got that from Ray because he set
that example, absolutely. Fred, of course, carried it out to a great
degree by getting into the restaurants and working shoulder to
shoulder with you. When I went to Australia (to open up that
market in 1970), that’s again leading by example. I shared a
hotel room and I made all of my people with different back-
grounds, physical locations, and such do the same, and we devel-
oped that same camaraderie. Here I was, at the time one of the
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key executives of the company (Ray being the other) and I’m in
there sleeping three to a room. You were forced to develop per-
sonal relationships.” Donn lived and breathed the company’s
beliefs in cutting costs where possible, in building a team, and
in diversity—qualities his team members were sure to notice.
Willis Smart, former regional vice president and now operations
vice president for Dunkin Brands, expressed these thoughts: “Do
what you say. I mean the importance of how you act to develop
and change a culture. If you are trying to get people to think more
often about sales, or operations, you have to walk the talk, you
have to set an example, and when you are trying to get into a cul-
ture that doesn’t do that, you cannot ever compromise it.”
And former UK marketing chief officer Laurie Morgan shared
this memory: Company executives when visiting stores were
often “the first to grab the fry basket if fries are up and hands
are full. Better yet, they’ll grab the mop, clean up a spill, and
schmooze all the customers while they are at it.”