Page 20 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Introduction

bankrupt; in another instance, the operators formed an organi-
zation to challenge the corporation on some of its policies; in
still another, Fred Turner himself was ready to leave and become
an operator; over the years customers protested the brand in a
number of ways; and on more than one occasion an executive
was asked to leave. While there were glitches and mistakes made
during those 53 years—some of them more harmful than oth-
ers—the system righted itself and kept going. And that is the
true test of a successful organization.
George Will stated in 1997, when writing about owner/
operators, that “McDonald’s has made more millionaires, and
especially black and Hispanic millionaires, than any other eco-
nomic entity ever, anywhere.” And while this isn’t news to those
who follow McDonald’s, they may not realize that hundreds of
company employees, myself included, along with suppliers,
enjoyed the same incredible success. But it didn’t stop there. Sec-
xviii
ond- and now third-generation owner/operators as well as sup-
pliers have benefited. And the success we speak about is not
necessarily the monetary kind. Ray Kroc summed up what many
people whom I interviewed told me:

Success to me is happiness. But what I mean by happiness is
probably different from its everyday meaning to most people.
To me, happiness is a by-product of achievement.

To us, success really was about the fun and excitement and
satisfaction that we felt from accomplishing much of what we
set out to do. Those familiar with McDonald’s corporate his-
tory over the years already know about the perfect storm that
hit the system. Literally four years ago, the night before the
opening general session of McDonald’s 2004 Worldwide Con-
vention, Jim Cantalupo, the CEO at the time, suddenly passed