Page 14 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Acknowledgments

train going for me. We spent many hours together and besides
providing great insights about the company, he also gave me the
gift of so much of his personal time—it was a real pleasure
working with him.
My thanks goes to all of the individuals who helped in this
project by allowing an interview, a conversation, or lending sup-
port by pointing me in the right direction when I needed it most.
Jim Skinner, Don Thompson, Jeff Stratton, Bob Marshall, Rich
Floersch, Kathy May, Vivian Ross, Pat Harris, Jack Daly, Susan
Clark-McBride, Michael Bullington, Al Golin, Joyce Molinaro,
Barb Balle, and Fred Turner. Although I have been gone from
the corporation for eight years, it was as if I was still a part of
the McFamily, and I was treated so well by so many.
The group of former McDonald’s employees was just terrific
as well, lending their ideas and thoughts whenever I asked. I
could have spent another year just listening to their stories and
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the passion that they had for the system. I spoke with everyone
who I thought could contribute in some way, and had to pare
down the list to make it manageable. No one turned me down,
and they could not have been more gracious in sharing their past
with me. Regardless of the issues surrounding each one leaving
the company, everyone seemed to feel privileged to have been
associated with McDonald’s. Mike Roberts summed it up for
everyone I spoke with in saying, “No matter what the circum-
stances, I am proud to have been a part of it.” My thanks to
Mike Roberts, Frank Behan, Ed Rensi, Bob Weissmueller, Tom
Dentice, John and Marge Cooke, Claire Babrowski, Debra
Koenig, Mike Quinlan, Paul Schrage, Don Horowitz, Jack
Greenberg, Donn Wilson, Matt Seigel, David Delgado, Bob
Vidor, Jan Kramer, Burt Cohen, Ernie Annibale, and Willis Smart.
The heart of the company, the licensees who operate 85 percent
of the restaurants within the system, were equally supportive. Their
stories and comments were great support for the validation of the