Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2015 | Page 11

ceoprofile
more than 100 franchises in the U.S. and
Canada and expanding its global network
to 45 countries, and the company is maintaining that torrid pace in 2015: to date
it has increased its global footprint to 50
countries and is on track for another year
of strong growth.

Leadership
What is your role as CEO? I see one
of my primary roles as being a recruiter.
My top priorities are to bring on great
new franchisees and then create a culture
dedicated to serving franchisees. The
single biggest impact I can have as CEO
is to ensure that every employee in our
company fully understands and embraces
our mission of supporting franchisees and
helping them to succeed. Once you’re
confident that you have the right people
on board to execute the right culture, your
focus shifts to team-building, which has a
huge impact on a franchise system as well.
Describe your leadership style. I operate with a servant leadership style. It is
my job to surround myself with capable,
committed people and give them the leeway to do their jobs, while also providing
guidance when needed or desired to help
them do their jobs. I have a few “pet areas” where I tend to get more involved
than others, such as our annual convention and our franchise advisory council.
Overall, I like to make myself available
to help when needed, but I prefer to give
people enough room and watch them succeed at what they do best.
What has inspired your leadership style?
My biggest mentor is former Burger King
CEO John Chidsey. When working on his
team I respected his leadership style and
ability to inspire others. But when it gets
down to it, I’m inspired simply by treating
others the way I want to be treated and
seeing them be successful. I like helping
others just as I like and appreciate when
people help me with my job.
What is your biggest leadership challenge? Finding good people. Not only
do you have to find people who are smart,
successful, intelligent, and accessible, you

“The biggest impact I
can have is to ensure
that every employee
fully understands
and embraces our
mission of supporting
franchisees and
helping them to
succeed.”
also have to find people who are genuinely passionate about what they do and
who are passionate about their customer.
They also have to understand who the
customer is. In our case, the customer is
our franchisee. We need people with empathy because we’re dealing with peoples’
livelihoods, dreams, and families—we’re
not just selling them something. That’s
why I speak with each potential new HRI
employee. No one gets hired until I speak
with them and ensure they understand
and are passionate about our mission to
support franchisees to succeed. I grew up
in a family with a small business, so I understand what it’s like to be on the other
side. But not everyone has that experience. It’s my job to help them see things
from the franchisee’s perspective and help
them understand how everything they do
affects our owners’ businesses.
How do you transmit your culture from
your office to front-line employees?
I think culture starts with the mission
that you establish for the business and
communicate to your organization. Our
company mission statement is: We are committed to the entrepreneurial success of our
franchisees as well as industry leadership by
providing innovative products and processes
and unparalleled service, while enriching
the lives of all of our customers and associates. I think that puts in very clear terms
where our focus is every day. At the start
of every employee meeting, we read our
company’s mission statement together
out loud, and we also have a franchisee
call in and share with us their story, con-

cerns, questions, and feedback. It’s a way
for all of our employees to get to know
these franchisees and interact with them,
because they always come first. It is also
important to make sure everyone knows
exactly what impact they have or can have
on peoples’ lives.
Where is the best place to prepare for
leadership: an MBA school or OTJ?
For leadership, I would definitely say
on-the-job experience. There is no replacing real-life interaction. In real life,
you see and meet people from all different backgrounds. You tend to see more
diversity when you immerse yourself in
the field than at a business school. Plus,
franchising is a unique business model,
something you really can’t learn all about
in a classroom.
Are tough decisions best taken by one
person? How do you make tough decisions? The process of making a complicated decision includes multiple people. I
will ultimately make the final call, but it’s
important to get input and opinions from
others as part of the process. It’s a waste
of money to put together a team of smart
people and not ask for and incorporate
their input. I like and appreciate hearing
from others because it helps identify every possible scenario. It’s better to make
a wrong decision with all scenarios laid
out in advance than to be blindsided by
one you didn’t even consider.
Do you wa