Page 188 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

galvanize the people.” Roland Jones added to this point by not-
ing: “You need to establish trust with the people you lead. A
leader seeks opportunities to establish dialogue because com-
munication establishes that nature of the relationship.”

Lesson Learned

While e-mail plays an important role in relaying messages,
don’t allow it to substitute for the value of a conversation,
whether in person or by phone. Communicating is often better
conveyed in plain, old-fashioned conversations—the ultimate
building block in any relationship. Communication occurs only
when both participants receive and understand the
information. Sending an e-mail is not a replacement for
conversation.
158

Still, there is no question that in a growing organization, inter-
nal communication is often not ideal—a challenge McDonald’s
navigates this way: “We do our best to make sure that what we
want to convey, everybody hears it,” Bob Marshall, the vice pres-
ident of U.S. restaurant operations, said to me. “Everybody that
comes in here hears the exact same thing. So I think we pay par-
ticular attention in making sure the message is singular, and no
matter where you sit you are going to be hearing the same thing.”
Jeff Kindler, currently the CEO of Pfizer and a former
McDonald’s executive, told me his thoughts on communicating
and the experiences he took away from his McDonald’s tenure.
He still adheres to the time-tested methods of communicating
to his staff.
“When McDonald’s acquired Boston Market, the company
also gained 30,000 employees who had worked for a bankrupt