Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 11

CEO profile:

businesses were great, but none of them
provided fulfillment from an inner perspective. I believe people buy the why—
the reason for doing things—not the
what. This is a business that can create
positive feelings in the world.”
That’s why, when Kleinberger is asked
how he measures success, he cites a favorite goal in life: sparking new smiles.
He likes to see smiles, particularly when
it’s a customer or a franchisee. It’s part
of the why.
“The other businesses I started were
just businesses,” he says. “What we do
today is a mission. Business is usually a
way to earn a living, but here it’s a cause,
a reason for being. The most important
thing in business is to love what you do
and do what you love.”
Kleinberger makes no apologies for
being passionate about his goals. That
kind of passion breeds success. And he
is far from being close to achieving
his goals for Menchie’s, where today a
franchisee can expect to spend, on average, $350,000 to $375,000 to open a
new operation. “We’ve really moved
mountains,” he says. “We are driven by
the cause, by the mission, and I could
not have done any of this without my
beloved team, as they all believe in making people smile.”
Leadership
What is your role as CEO? My principal role is to continuously strategize
and propel the vision and the mission,
and to cultivate the culture of the organization throughout all its members
and aspects. That’s the bottom line. At
Menchie’s, where we have more than
2,000 team members under our umbrella, it is our mission to make our
stakeholders smile. How do we do it?
By making sure the vision, mission, and
values are being upheld.
Leadership style? I have to say a “thank

“Be” the
person with
the values
you
believe in.
“Know”
what you
are doing,
how to be
competent.
And “do”—
execute on
the plan
of action;
don’t let life
pass while
observing.
you” to the military. In the military you
deal with life-and-death situations, and
you learn that people do things best
when they believe in the common vision and in what you as a leader stand
for. Successful leaders inspire people to
action, rather than just tell them what to
do. My style of leadership is leading by
example and following the “be-know-do”
leadership principles. “Be” the person
with the values you believe in. “Know”
what you are doing, how to be competent. And “do”—execute on the plan of

action; don’t let life pass while observing.
Act! Most important, my team members
come first and before myself, and they
are the highest priority!
What has inspired your leadership
style? A combination of two things.

First, it was the military. As the world’s
leading leadership institute, it molded
my leadership style as I learned from
the best that people come first. I was
privileged to be around leaders and see
what it takes to become one. People
don’t do what they need to do; people
do what they want to do. A good leader
inspires people into showing them what
the team members want to do—and why.
When I have a task in mind, I show my
team members why this may be the right
thing to do, and what’s the reason for
doing it. Having your team’s buy-in is a
key element, as teamwork makes things
happen. The second inspiration to my
style was simply making leadership mistakes through the years and learning
from them. Those who don’t do, don’t
make mistakes. We need to learn and
grow from each one!
Biggest leadership challenge? The

one that most CEOs deal with: how to
maintain a warm and friendly environment with a rapidly growing organization; how to maintain warmth with size.
During the course of leading a company,
CEOs face decisions that are either
people- or business-oriented. My preference was, is, and will be people, and
that is hard to maintain with a rapidly
growing organization.
How do you transmit your culture from
your office to front-line employees?

Communication and people! We put
an emphasis on communication and an
open and safe environment to express
opinions and thoughts. We recently implemented a weekly “all hands” meeting
with team members to discuss strategy

Franchiseupdate Issue I V, 2011 

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