McDonald’s, scalability and leadership – John C. Maxwell

Imagine for a moment that you stop typing, move your eyes from your computer screen, look at the wall, and realize that it is 11:57 am on a cold winter Monday morning. What do you have in mind? What is your next thought?

I AM HUNGRY! Right ?!

With our busy lifestyle, what fast food options come to mind? McDonald’s, Wendys, Burger King, Taco Time, Subway and the list goes on. Where do you usually meet at lunchtime?

Two years ago I was in Little Caesars buying a hot $ 5 pizza. You ask if this was for my team? No! Everything was for me; and I ate every last piece. If it wasn’t pizza, it was some kind of burger, taco, sandwich with fries, and a soda. So, it was only natural that he weighed 240 pounds back then.

What do my weight and past eating habits have to do with McDonald’s, scalability, and leadership? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! But here is the fascinating truth. McDonald’s was at the base of a rapidly changing economy. John C. Maxwell shares the story of the McDonald’s brothers as part of his discussion on “The Law of the Cover.” What law is that? Well, here is a condensed summary.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate your leadership ability? On the same scale, how do you rate its effectiveness? “Your LEADERSHIP SKILL always determines your EFFECTIVENESS and the potential impact of your organization.” You’ll find it on page 1 of chapter 1 of John’s revised and updated book; The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. So if my leadership ability is a 4, then my effectiveness cannot be higher than a 3. If my effectiveness is a 4, then my leadership ability is at least a 5. Does that make sense?

John illustrates the story of Dick and Maurice very well by emphasizing that the two brothers recognized an opportunity to reinvent their restaurant and turn it into a drive-in by selling burgers, fries, drinks, etc. In fact, they saw great success in their company and “their genius was in customer service and kitchen organization (p3).” However, they did not run after the franchise concept because “they lacked the leadership necessary to make a larger company effective (p3).”

Are you in a similar situation? Are you an expert in your field, clients love the work you do, but don’t know how to scale your business to build a bigger company? We all have something we can relate to. Two weeks ago, I would never have imagined myself blogging every day (DISCLAIMER: I’ve missed a few days posting content on my blog, but when I stop to think about it, I’m constantly blogging every day while coordinating tax returns , tax consulting projects and answer client questions about tax technical concepts several times a day).

Well, ask yourself: “How high or low do I take my LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP and / or EFFECTIVENESS?” If I’m at a measly 3 in leadership ability, how do I raise it to a higher number? Now, between 1937 and 1954, I’m sure the McDonald’s brothers enjoyed success with their regional restaurant model. They then met Ray Kroc and he used his LEADERSHIP CAP SKILL a little higher than the brothers. You see, Ray could envision a large restaurant company where everyone followed an established system of processes that presented each customer with a similar meal and a similar experience; This is scalability! Ray literally worked BEHIND. Did you know that during his first eight years with the McDonald’s brothers, Ray did not earn a penny of salary? Would you sweat and cry for eight years without pay?

What if I told you that you can collect for $ 2.7 million, but you would have to wait 8 years before collecting? This means that you would have to work day after day for 8 years before you could earn a penny of the $ 2.7 million; Would you be all in? It would be difficult today to find any man or woman who works for NO SALARY for a promise to pay in 8 years.

Well that’s exactly what happened! “In 1961, for the sum of $ 2.7 million, Kroc purchased the exclusive rights to McDonald’s from the brothers and proceeded to make it an American institution and a global entity. The” cap “on the life and leadership of Ray Kroc it was obviously much higher than that of its predecessors (p. 4) “.

More than 50 years later, McDonald’s is a global icon for hamburgers, fries, and soda. It doesn’t matter if you buy a burger in small town Evanston, Wyoming or downtown San Francisco, California on Market Street, you will experience the same taste and smell that is doubled around the world. That’s the amazing story of McDonald’s, scalability and leadership under Ray Kroc.

Just so you know, I am currently reading about 10 books at the same time. When I find information in one book that is addressed in another book, I am forced to think that it is not a coincidence, but that I should probably take the message seriously. In his spinoff book The Business Of The 21st Century, Robert T. Kiyosaki talks about assets. Well, asset number 5 is all about a fully scalable, duplicatable business model.

If you haven’t read the book or heard of the book (FYI, Robert is the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad – Ringing a Bell?) Then I’ll let you know right now that Robert is talking about direct sales. Point out that you don’t need to be a skilled salesperson to be successful in a direct selling business if you accept an important rationale:

Design your small business model so that it can be multiplied and replicated many times without your direct involvement.

Remember, the McDonald’s brothers were experts in customer service and kitchen organization. They struggled to design their business model so that anyone could duplicate it many times over. However, when Ray Kroc entered the scene, “he did not seek an elite corps of especially talented restaurateurs with high-level experience to execute his multiple operations. Instead, he designed the experience directly into the operation (p67).”

Robert goes on to teach that “you don’t need highly skilled salespeople to duplicate what you do. You need people who are willing to learn basic business and communication skills and who personally become self-determining entrepreneurs and team-builders (p69).”