Page 160 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

for what he was certain was right. Most of us would not have
expected him to do anything less in such a culture.
Courage often has a by-product: ego. But when it came to
protecting the brand, ego took a second seat. This was obvious
when Fred conceded to Irv, and it was not an anomaly. Fred
reminded me of an episode in 1976, when McDonald’s was
rolling out the Egg McMuffin, and the product wasn’t selling to
its potential. Ed Schmitt, the president of McDonald’s at the
time, felt it prudent to market it on national television but
Fred—who felt it was premature to run the campaign—was out
of the country. So Ed made the decision in Fred’s absence. “He
was convinced he was right, and that I was wrong in not want-
ing to do it,” Fred recalled. “And he knew that I wouldn’t like
that, that I would feel that’s premature and we need more time.
Ed was right and I was wrong. I acknowledge I was wrong, and
I commend Ed for the guts to go along and do it.”
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The Guts to Make a Personal Commitment
In discussing the principle of courage with Tom Dentice, retired
executive vice president, he smiled when recalling an incident
that transpired just as he was about to retire. It was extremely
controversial at the time, and took a tremendous amount of
courage to stay the course. “I had been working with the
BMOA [Black McDonald’s Operators Association] for some
time in my role and they had concerns . . . over their ability to
grow, and if they would be given a fair share. For years we had
been trying to move them along, and we were making progress,
but it certainly wasn’t at light speed. And we met with a group
of them. The operators that really did well and did a good job
were savvy and knew what was going on. They presented their
case over a couple of days about how we had been promising