Page 191 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Communications

Displays
While verbal and written communications are the stuff of every-
day life, some messaging deserves to be expressed in an altogether
different format. Just as Jim Skinner displays the Plan to Win strat-
egy on the wall, mission statements, quotes, and portraits are other
examples of effective methods for conveying a company’s values
and heritage. As I spoke by phone with Jeff Stratton, he said, “The
wall I’m looking at, there is a picture of Fred on the left, on the
right is a picture of Ray, and right in the middle is Jim Cantalupo.
So that legacy is there.” And Don Horowitz reminded me of an
unusual display, a piece of glass which is about half an inch thick
and measures approximately 24-inches-by-6-feet that is etched

One on One with Jim Skinner 161
n my pursuit to better understand the role communications
Icontinues to play at McDonald’s, I had lunch in an Oak Brook
conference room with CEO Jim Skinner (a Big Mac for me, a salad
for Jim). In continuing McDonald’s upward tick, Jim places great
importance on the company’s Plan to Win strategy, which is
clearly communication of a direction and goal. The Plan to Win
features the 5 P’s: People, Products, Place, Price, and Promotion.
He is diligent about updating the document, mentioning that it is
pretty timeless in nature. To keep the plan not only alive but also
relevant, it touches all levels of the system, right down to the
store managers and crew—there’s nothing lofty or ivory-towered
about it. And to showcase its importance, Plan to Win—which, in
its earliest phase was a true collaboration effort by the top
McDonald’s executives at the time: Jim Cantalupo, Charlie Bell,
and Jim Skinner. As he furthers the initiative to drive the
company forward in today’s challenging times, Jim displays the

Plan to Win on the wall just outside his office.