Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 15

CEO profile:

anything less than excellence; and Tom
Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza,
who taught me the power of honoring
a model and keeping it simple.
What is your biggest leadership challenge? Any strength out of balance is a

potential weakness. As an entrepreneur,
it’s easy to want to continue to evolve
and make changes. Sometimes that’s
good, but you need to know when to
stay the course.
How do you transmit your culture from
your office to front-line employees?

You have to know who you are and what
you stand for, and your team needs to
buy into that. That comes from bringing the right people into the organization. We strive for what we refer to as
“Frantegrity.” Our team understands
what operating within a Frantegritybased culture feels like.
Where is the best place to prepare
for leadership: an MBA school or
OTJ? On the job.
Are tough decisions best taken by
one person? It depends on the situation.

There’s a difference between responsibility and accountability. Although I have
a team of people who are responsible
for making certain decisions, as a leader
I need to be held accountable for the
decisions they make—good or bad. My
team needs to know that I’m willing to
play that role.
How do you make tough decisions?

I go back to that guiding principle of
Frantegrity and ask myself: What’s the
right thing to do? I find that so many
decisions can best be answered by that
question. Very often I lean on and rely
upon my team—they’re a good sounding board.

There’s a
difference
between
responsibility
and
accountability.
Although I
have a team of
people who are
responsible for
making certain
decisions, as a
leader I need
to be held
accountable
for the
decisions they
make—good or
bad.
I think you need both to be successful.
Advice to president wannabes: First

and foremost, establish a foundation
of what you want your organization to
represent both professionally and culturally. Then you have to select, without
compromise, the corporate staff and
franchisees who will honor your organization’s overall philosophy.

to inspire and lead through emotion
rather than policy. I care deeply about
the folks I have the privilege to work
with every day and the franchisees we
have the opportunity to support.
What does your management team
look like? The Ann Arbor office is

focused on support services such as
development, legal, finance, and IT,
whereas our regional offices provide
more tech and field support. We treat
our administrative side of the company
as a stand-alone business entity that
launches brands. Then each brand is
run by a franchise operations director,
a director of marketing, and an operations manager. As the system grows, we
adjust the support team accordingly.
How does your management team
help you lead? Through honest and

open communication and feedback.
Favorite management gurus/books:

I believe in former NFL coach Tony
Dungy’s philosophy on being a culturedriven coach and leader and enjoy his
books. I also find myself going back
and re-reading Good to Great by Jim
Collins.
What makes you say, “Yes, now that’s
why I do what I do!” Our annual con-

vention. Statistically within the franchise
industry, less than 50 percent of franchisees show up for national conventions.
We average close to 90 percent every
year. When our franchisees want to come
back and see our staff and their peers
every single year, it says something. It’s
also wonderful to see our staff grow and
advance their careers.
Personal

Management
Describe your management style:

Do you want to be liked or respected?

What time do you like to be at your
desk? At work, the first thing I do is

I am very culture-driven and prefer

walk around greeting the team mem-

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