Page 85 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Relationships

Lesson Learned

Part of Ray’s original mission was to give back to the
community, which he understood was good for sales and public
relations. He encouraged everyone in the system, as it got
bigger, to give back at a higher level. Today, McDonald’s
highlights its charitable givings at employee conventions, on its
Web site, in its Corporate Responsibility Report, in brochures,
and elsewhere. Organizations large and small can showcase
their community support in the same way. This approach helps
strengthen an organization’s bond with employees and
vendors as well as the public. It also sends a clear message as to
what the organization represents.

One on One with Ed Rensi 55

d and I met for breakfast one morning at the Hyatt Lodge at
EMcDonald’s Campus. He shared his thoughts about not just
leadership principles at McDonald’s but also the mentors and
friends that one gathers “growing up” in the system. “I have a
tremendous amount of internal satisfaction,” Ed told me. “I miss
the people terribly. Everything that I am about today is because
of what I learned at McDonald’s. I have no way of thanking the

McDonald’s system ever.”
Ed’s sentiments validated what I’ve been thinking all along
about my own experience. In particular he expressed the profound
sense of loyalty I, too, feel about people who take the time and

interest in helping you achieve.
As Ed put it: “I would do anything in the world for Fred Turner.
Anything. Because he took a schoolteacher from Ohio and allowed me
to know and explore things that I would have never known or explored.”