Page 80 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

on a revolt. The MOA demanded the right to renew their fran-
chise automatically when the agreement expired, the influence
to prevent new franchisees from entering the system (eliminat-
ing future competition), and the ability to loosen the standards
the system held on its operators. This rocked the very founda-
tion of the company’s success, and it threatened the relationship
that had served the system so well. But it also proved a weak-
ness: the organizational structure lacked the checks and balances
needed to keep the system healthy and fair to all sides. This
became the linchpin in the importance of building those much-
needed checks and balances by allowing operators a forum to
express themselves and seeking to gain a collaborative approach
toward working with the franchisees. Ultimately, McDonald’s
turned the situation around by forming the National Operators’
Advisory Board, whose members were elected by the operators
within each region and have a national forum for debate and
50
conversation. Once again, this was a unique solution, at the
time, that allowed the partnership to prosper.

Being There When It Really Counts
I began to cultivate relationships from my early days on the
restaurant floor. As crew, we challenged one another to be the
best. “Can you handle it?” we asked with bravado, basically
implying: “Are you good enough at your station to keep up with
the crowds and not let the rest of the team down?” We called out
“I got it!” providing meaningful assurance that we wouldn’t run
out of fries or slow down at the grill; otherwise, as we all knew,
if one of us screwed up, we’d all feel the impact, and quickly.
This was in the spirit of camaraderie. I remember one Christ-
mas coming home with an armful of presents from my fellow
workers, much to the surprise of my parents, who never
expected I’d encounter such a culture at a job flipping burgers,
as Dad liked to remind me. But I wasn’t surprised. Our rela-