Page 69 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Relationships

Food for Thought

What Is a Mentor?

Merriam-Webster defines the term as “a trusted coun-
selor or guide.” But a true mentor is someone people want
to be around. A true mentor inspires the troops to deliver
more than they thought possible. Ray Kroc was that kind
of leader.
“He was definitely a mentor to me,” Fred Turner told
me. “I admired him. I loved him. He was a leader and an
outstanding person. He set the tone and then would get
into personal things. He was interested in people, a gen-
uine interest in people. He loved to tell stories, jokes.”
Noted Mike Quinlan, former CEO: “Ray had the abil-
ity to take us regular folks and motivate us from being
average people to outstanding performers. That is a tal- 39
ent. He had the ability to take us and inculcate us in his
dream and have us become not the 12 Apostles, the 100
Apostles.” With Mike, the father figure applied in many
ways, he said. “He told me a couple of times, after some
down time, in many ways he wished he would have a son
like me. And it moved me to tears a couple of times. . . .
I knew what his ideal was, and I agreed with that ideal
and I wanted to be the best in his eyes, because I knew
that was the best thing.”

A Hamburger University Welcome
At Hamburger University (HU), many of the restaurant man-
agers who attend classes “have never been on an airplane before
and never been out of their hometown,” Kathy May noted. They