Question

What are the benefits of a corporate leadership strategy?

Watch the video on “Leadership at McDonald’s”

1. As a leader in the first years of McDonald’s, what kind of normative leadership style do you think Ray Kroc likely used? Explain your answer.

2. What are the benefits of a corporate leadership strategy?

Answer 1

Ray Kroc Leadership Style and Success

Visionary

While he was convincing the McDonald brothers of his plan, his mind began to visualize the thousands of McDonald stores in every city all over America. At first, he was excited by the idea of these stores having his multi-mixers in each of them. He was then in the business of selling those machines that turn out milk-shakes.

Like any good leader, Ray held by his vision and persuaded others to embrace that vision.

Committed

During his days as a paper cup salesman, Ray was committed to following rules and principles that made him a good salesman and later, as sales leader. The first order of the day before he made his daily rounds was to make sure that he looked and felt good. Tailored suits, shiny shoes, well-combed hair and pleasing appearance were standards that must be followed starting with himself, day in day out.

This values served him well when he started McDonalds. His fastidious adherence to operating processes and procedures became standards in restaurant operations worldwide. He firmly believed that the quality of a leader is reflected in the standards he set for himself.

Motivator

What set Ray apart from his contemporaries was his ability to make people do willingly what he wanted them to do,   although he is the type of a leader who would not ask anyone to do things that he himself is not willing or able to do. He’s known to have mopped floors and clean toilets for franchisees during store openings in the early days of McDonalds.  

Enthusiasm

A key to Ray’s overall success is his infectious enthusiasm that attracted people to him. Whether they are potential franchisees, employees, suppliers or investors, he had a certain way of making people like him and to accept his ideas. Apparently, this ability helped him sell millions of paper cups to hard-nosed Italian and Polish restaurant owners in the streets of Chicago during his days as a salesman. He was considered a great storyteller, socializer, and had a way with words.

Mentor and Coach

Ray never finished high school but to me he is a great teacher. He liked and originated the idea of the “Hamburger University” that systematized the teaching of the ins and outs not only of preparing burgers and fries but running fast foods restaurants. Even before the concept ofoperations analysis became a buzzword in business circles and taught in the universities, it was already part of the curriculum in the training programs at McDonald's.   

Optimist

Ray never wavered despite obstacles that come his way. For instance, when he was having a hard time perfecting the process of preparing potatoes - a big problem in the cold and damp weather of Des Plaines, Illinois but not in sunny San Bernardino, California - instead of being discouraged, he embarked on a series of fact finding and research, until he found the solution.

This he did in many other situations he encountered in the early days of McDonalds. One of my favorites is the story of how he knew how many hamburgers his competitor across the street exactly sold each day. He "researched" by checking on the competitor's garbage cans in the dead of night, the night before!

Great Communicator

A salesman that he is, communication is one skill he does naturally and well. This is how he gets across his ideas, his vision and anything he wanted to tell people. And he does it with style, like having President Kennedy present in the inauguration of a store or by grabbing a microphone in the stadium when he wanted his San Diego Padres to play better!

2)Benefits of corporate leadership strategy

1. Increase productivity.
   The right, consistent leadership can increase the productivity of your people. At its primal level, leadership is about understanding your people emotionally. In his book The New Leaders, Daniel Goleman states that emotional intelligence is critical to the success of a leader. Emotional intelligence involves being smart about emotions and using empathy effectively to empower and engage employees. Leadership training that encompasses emotional intelligence can hone these emotional skills in your people managers and leaders.
2. Retain your people.
   75% of people voluntarily leaving jobs don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses! That’s right, employees leave ineffective leaders. By investing in leadership training, you can retain your people and reduce costly recruitment expenses.
3. Nurture future leaders.
   You need to be strategic about developing and nurturing future leaders. Without strategy, leadership roles are often given to the most forward candidates with dominant personalities. Quality leadership is a combination of the right qualities and the right training. Identify those who have what it takes and provide them with targeted leadership training. Nurturing future leaders supports succession planning and offers career pathways to employees, further increasing retention.
4. Increase employee engagement.
   We all like to know how we are progressing in our roles, receiving praise when it is well-earned and constructive feedback as necessary. In fact, 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week compared to only 18% of those with low engagement. Giving feedback is a skill of successful leaders. Through leadership training, you can teach effective ways to give feedback to motivate and increase the skill level of your people.
5. Implement an effective leadership style.
   Leadership training can assist in implementing the most appropriate leadership style for your organization and the work you do. There are several leadership styles, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. Leadership training can also help individual leaders develop their own personal leadership style that their team members will best respond to.