Page 78 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

other organizations, McDonald’s has at times fallen victim of
that culture in its history, a scenario Mike describes as “very
anti-success, very anti–the culture of our company. So you have
to guard against that, and that’s the CEO’s job to guard against
that. And it’s easy to say now, looking back, it’s easy to say
things later, but the leader has to set that culture up.”
Like other organizations, some of the conflicts within
McDonald’s have bred contempt that sadly has lingered on for
years. Yet as upset as any of these individuals may still feel today,
the system has proven strong enough to withstand any hard feel-
ings. Clearly, many of the big successes were the result of the
honest feedback that was encouraged where the relationships
were nurtured. The company was the better for it, and in typi-
cal McDonald’s style, the person providing that feedback
received some deserving accolade.

48
2 + 2+ 2 = 12: Synergy
Relationships within the McFamily have long been based largely
on the shared motivation to succeed. Succeed and you prosper,
big time. “The McFamily is bigger than any one part,” Mike
Quinlan told me. “It is a great example of 2 + 2 + 2 = 12. Not
six, 12. The intelligent, mature, unselfish members of the
McFamily truly recognize that, with McDonald’s, 2 + 2 + 2 =
12. You mess up the 2 + 2 + 2, and the 12 disappears.” As Mike
pointed out, this requires integrity across the board, though as
in any family, there is always a black sheep or two whose moti-
vation and dedication isn’t aligned with everyone else’s: “The 2
+ 2 + 2 = 12 depends upon each of us being willing to be mostly
unselfish and to sacrifice our personal good for the greater good
of the McFamily. If that breaks down, you’re in trouble. We
have been able to keep that together pretty well all of these years
through a combination of many factors: luck, expertise, timing,
intimidation, excellence in execution, inspired leadership, and