Page 24 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Introduction

things, and usually at a pretty young age.” Well said, and heart-
felt by many people I interviewed.
The structure of the three-legged stool was such that we were
all partners in the system together, and together we always
pulled through, even in the darkest times.
Was there a grand design, a master strategy behind McDon-
ald’s growth? No, I think not. But there was a conscious effort
to continually improve and be the best. It grew organically from
within. The kernels of the organization were planted by Fred
and Ray. And they are still alive and well today within the
organization, in a different way, by different people, but the
kernels are there. In fact, Jim Skinner, the current CEO, car-
ries on with a new strategy that reflects the core principles and
that is updated to remain relevant and viable in today’s busi-
ness environment.
I began writing this book as a result of my post-McDonald’s
xxii
tenure, which in the past eight years included consulting, with
my group, to various organizations. In this role, my staff and I
kept returning to the basics of leadership, management, culture,
and vision issues—concepts familiar to anyone in business. Yet,
many of our clients struggle with them, failing to see how sim-
ple the basics really are and the role they play in building a thriv-
ing organization. As I strived to articulate to clients how
organizations build from within, I returned again and again to
the core ideology that I learned at McDonald’s. I felt that the
principles I learned at McDonald’s, in their simplicity, might be
beneficial for others in growing their organizations. I don’t claim
to be a final authority on management. I offer only what I wit-
nessed. And what I witnessed seemed fairly simple and straight-
forward to me, and it still does. You’ll find no fancy charts or
big acronyms here—just telling what seemed right, the com-
monsense approach to larger issues and trying to do the right
thing with people; that approach seemed to work.