If you wait…it’s too late

I just wrapped up the game tape on McDonalds: McDonalds: Behind The Arches by John Love.

One of my favorite moments was how acutely aware McDonalds leadership team was to corporate decay. They were constantly battling to not become stale.

McDonalds experienced tremendous growth in the 1970s & 1980s. The Ray Kroc & Fred Turner playbook was dominating the marketplace. But, the early 1990s experienced increased competition with PepsiCo’s Taco Bell and Pizza Hut while also wrestling with a recession.

Ed Rensi, President & CEO of McDonalds USA, wrote a letter to the US teammates in 1990:

“I believe it is time to renew ourselves again. Internally and externally. A continued evolution. Our challenge… is to affirm that our system will continue to work as we grow and expand in the future. There’s an adage that says, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ Here’s a modern adaptation - ‘If you wait till it’s broke, it’s too late to fix it.’”

Well said. It takes tremendous courage to evolve when things appear to be working good enough.

Rensi cared enough to say what needed to be said. He was pushing the team to a place of tension where change and evolution can occur.

If you wait till it’s broke, it’s too late to fix it.

What in your business or business unit needs to evolve now?

Onward,

Matt