Page 192 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

with an ever-evolving timeline featuring all the past and present
board members in the history of McDonald’s. It is mounted on
the wall outside the boardroom at the campus office. “In the early
years, Fred said, ‘I want to see something different. I want to see
something that no one has ever done before,’” Don said. “And
you look at that plaque, which shows the history of the company
in the form of the board of directors, and you see something that
you would not see at any other corporate headquarters, which is
interesting. It is something that grows, and was designed so that
it is never obsolete, it’s always changing.” This artwork commu-
nicates the heritage and culture of the organization.

The Pitch
Licensing new restaurants to operators has been without doubt
one of the toughest kinds of decisions a regional manager makes,
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one that dramatically impacts a franchisee’s profits. Not taking
these decisions lightly, we based decisions on three essentials:
factual data and research, input from staff and other stake-
holders, and our own experience and gut instincts. In order to
more fully allow for good communications on these serious deci-
sions, we developed a process, called a “pitch,” for getting all
the pertinent information on the table prior to a decision. Oper-
ators were invited to pitch their case; we provided them an
opportunity to express to us the rationale as to why they were
best suited for growth. These were great sessions, with many of
us gaining great insights to what was happening in the field and
what was on the operators’ minds. Some became real “dog-and-
pony” shows, so we had to balance the style and presentation
with the facts. This process forced them to deeply examine the
various aspects of their operation with the factual data that we
both shared. It gave greater credence to the importance of our
reviews of their operations and reaffirmed the five criteria that
we established in order for them to be considered expandable.