Page 62 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

Food for Thought

How Can You Build Relationships with Colleagues?
Try these ideas:

• Go to lunch with them.
• Volunteer for a work group within the organization.
• Send colleagues clippings or e-mails that will interest
them.
• Promote a group activity such as a softball or
basketball game outside of the workplace.

worked. There was no textbook theory; remember, most of us
grew up in the system and learned our trade on the job, not by
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attending an MBA program. You can make those judgments
when you’re working with people you consider family. John
Cooke, retired senior vice president, mentioned that in the early
years “no major business organization ever left its future in the
hands of 19- to 21-year-olds. Many of these same people became
successful owner/operators and company executives, starting as
crew.” They remained with the family, and flourished.

Showing What You’re Made Of
In some ways, those entering the company from the academic side
may have found themselves at a disadvantage, having to account
for the fact that they didn’t grow up in the system, as so many of
us had. “I had to prove myself,” said the director of national
training, Kathy May, who runs training at Hamburger University
for the United States. Kathy May began working at McDonald’s
in 1977 at the management level, armed with a college degree,
having majored in political science and minored in French and