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104 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2021 The McDonald Brothers One of the most illustrative examples of e Law of the Lid is to compare the leadership ability of the McDonald brothers with that of Ray Kroc. In the 1930s, Mac and Dick McDon- ald moved from New Hampshire to California to pursue the American Dream, and aer a cou- ple of failed businesses decided to open a small drive-in restaurant that served hot dogs, fries and shakes. e business was quite successful, and in 1937 they moved to San Bernardino and opened a much larger facility, adding barbecue and ham- burgers to the menu. Business exploded, and the brothers McDonald decided to turn the industry on its ear by focusing on walk-up customers and serving them in 30 seconds or less. To do this, they focused on hamburgers and engineered a process that streamlined the op- erations, cut costs, and lowered the price to their customers. ey called their new process the Speedee Service System, which truly rev- olutionized this market and created the "fast food" industry. e business was so success- ful that they decided to start franchising their restaurant in 1952, which ended in abject fail- ure. Why? e McDonald brothers' true ge- nius was in customer service and kitchen or- ganization. ey were good single-restaurant owners; they were efficient managers, but they were not leaders. eir leadership ability had clamped down a lid on what they could and couldn't do. In 1954, the brothers partnered with Ray Kroc, the founder of the company that made the milkshake equipment used by most drive- up restaurants, including the McDonald broth- ers. Kroc formed McDonald's Systems, Inc., which later became McDonald's Corporation. Ray immediately assembled a team of the sharpest people he could find to fulfill his vi- sion of making McDonald's a nationwide com- pany. In 1961, Kroc bought the exclusive rights to McDonald's for $2.7 million ($23 million in today's dollars). During the earlier failed fran- chise attempt by the brothers, one franchisee wanted to open a McDonald's in Phoenix, to which Dick replied "What %$@ #&* for? e McDonald name means nothing in Phoenix." Contrast the McDonald brothers' "lid" with that of Ray Kroc, which was sky high. Between 1955 and 1959, Kroc opened 100 restaurants; four years later there were over 500. Today there are more than 31,000 McDonald's restau- rants in 119 countries! Ray Kroc's lid was obviously much higher than that of the McDonald brothers. Raise Your Lid e first step is to recognize the importance of leadership, see it as a learnable skill, and to set about developing that skill. Many organiza- tions spend fortunes recruiting the best, most talented, and most in-demand people; then, they put them on poorly performing teams with terrible leadership. is happens not through malice or indifference; it is simply be- cause they don't understand the importance of leadership. Unfortunately, at most companies, leadership training is either ignored complete- ly or limited to training on how to fill out the annual review form. But if we can agree that a leader's role is de- livering results through others, having a low leadership lid is not going to work very well; it's as simple as that. And the more people they're leading, the bigger the problem. Like most things, raising your lid is a process, you've got to grow; to grow you have to get in the growth zone; and unfortunately, the growth zone is not the comfort zone. Growth takes place outside the comfort zone, not in it. It's an active pursuit and it's intentional. It's a con- tract you make with yourself; really, it's an in- The McDonald brothers' true genius was in customer service and kitchen organization.