Page 142 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

the message to crew that “you’re going to get here, too.” Of
course, some were content with crew status. Stay-at-home
moms, for instance, were happy to work only while their chil-
dren were at school and weren’t looking to step up the career
ladder. And older workers were content to pick up the extra cash
to supplement their retirement income, but had no aspirations
for anything further. And that was okay. McDonald’s had a
place for them, knowing they would add value to the system
because role models who demonstrated expectations applied to
them, too.
This early encouragement of climbing the promotional ladder
demonstrated the possibilities of a career path. While it has been
mentioned previously about the highly tenured management ranks
within McDonald’s, as well as the ability to promote executive
level talent, the value behind this strategy is now substantiated by
objective analysis. In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins men-
112
tions a survey of the best companies, writing: “Ten out of eleven
good to great CEO’s came from inside the company. The com-
parison companies turned to outsiders with six times greater fre-
quency—yet they failed to produce sustained great results.”

Giving Back
McDonald’s has long valued giving back to the community, a prac-
tice that dates back to the 1950s. The system’s charitable efforts
were rewarded by publicity in the local press, which went a long
way toward branding. But it would be cynical to say that was the
only upside. As Ray Kroc put it in Grinding It Out, “I don’t make
charitable donations because they will give me tax deductions. . . .
I have always enjoyed helping other people . . . and I take genuine
pleasure in sharing my good fortune with others.” Putting his
money where his mouth is, Ray started the Kroc Foundation,
which provided luxurious customized buses complete with kitchens,