EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS I LEARNED AT M DONALD’S C This page intentionally left blank EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS I LEARNED AT M DONALD’S C The 7 Leadership Principles that Drive Break Out Success Paul Facella with Adina Genn New York Chicago San Fransisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2009 by Paul Facella. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-160142-2 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-160141-4. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. 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If you’d like more information about this book, its author, or related books and websites, please click here. For more information about this title, click here Contents Foreword by Ed Rensi vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction xv 1 Honesty and Integrity: All in a Handshake 1 2 Relationships 25 3 Standards: Never Be Satisfied 59 4 Lead by Example 89 5 Courage: Telling It Like It Is 117 6 Communications 141 77 Recognition 177 Epilogue 207 Index 215 v This page intentionally left blank Foreword by Ed Rensi O f my 40-plus years in business, 33 were spent at McDon- ald’s, 14 of which I served as president and CEO of the USA division. There, I saw unbelievable strategic leadership, motiva- tion, and inspiration at play every single day. I was surrounded by people who taught me something new nearly every day. And I had the privilege of being mentored by Ray Kroc, a true vision- ary, and Fred Turner, the operations genius who created an organization that could replicate success and best practices. What made McDonald’s so wildly triumphant? If you’d have asked me this question 15 years ago, I might have answered “standards.” But, having retired in 1999, I now view that ques- tion with a measure of objectivity. I look at strategic rather than tactical things. It wasn’t the Big Mac that drove McDonald’s suc- cess. It was the auspicious leadership that had the courage to say, “okay let’s give it a try”—“it” being the introduction of something new, whether it was Chicken McNuggets, innovative equipment, an enhanced breakfast menu, or an expansion of the drive-thru concept. The company had the systems in place to support such innovation. It delivered messaging—“QSC”: qual- ity, service, and cleanliness—that everyone in the organization could easily wrap their arms around. It had great talent. We kept our focus on the customer, and that’s how we maneuvered miles vii Copyright © 2009 by Paul Facella. Click here for terms of use. Foreword ahead of the competition. And the driving force behind the organization started with Ray and Fred and has been carried through to today’s leadership under current CEO Jim Skinner. I’m not only proud of the role I played in the company’s suc- cess, but also grateful to have realized that you can’t do any- thing without people, without teamwork. McDonald’s is built on a chassis of growth opportunities, business opportunities, systems, trust, and, yes, fun. And like many other “Evergreens” (alumni of McDonald’s retirees) these elements resonate with me still. I’ve brought these essentials to one of my great passions, auto racing. As the owner of a leading NASCAR Nationwide Series racing team, Team Rensi Motorsports, I still practice the McDonald’s commonsense business approach. In my McDon- ald’s days, I looked at the organization’s corporate employees, franchisees, and vendors as partners. And I do the same with Team Rensi, whether I’m collaborating with the administrative viii staff, crew, the guys in the shop, or sponsors. Together, our work is inspirational and enjoyable. I first met Paul Facella back in the early 1970s. Like me, Paul began his tenure at McDonald’s as crew, working on the restau- rant floor back in 1966. Both of us were grillmen, and we never forgot our roots in the daily operations of our business. Paul rose through the organization, ultimately running the New York region, growing it to $600 million in revenues and one of the top-performing regions in the country consistently during the time that I ran the USA division. Paul was the perfect guy, liv- ing in the perfect place, running the region right with the per- fect group of operators. A New Yorker through and through, he knew the territory and its challenges better than any of us. He built an extraordinary team of licensees and staff. Was he flawless? No, none of us were. But he did whatever needed doing when it needed to be done. And when I pushed, you can be sure he had the courage to question if he believed it was the