Excellence in Operations: How I learned to think differently about business at a young age.

If I took a poll of 100 people in a room, I would be hard-pressed to find even one that had never heard of McDonald’s. It might be equally difficult to find anyone who hadn’t yet tasted one of their burgers, or sipped on a shake, or crunched on a crisp and salty French fry. The sheer number of global operation locations, as well as the brand-awareness of this fast-food restaurant is proof that a stellar business operations model was crafted by someone who was really leaps and bounds ahead of their time.

But who is this operations guru, and what lessons can they impart? The man’s name is Mr. Mike Quinlan. Quinlan served as a director and CEO of McDonald's Corporation, from 1979 until his retirement in 2002. And not only was he on the forefront of thinking differently about McDonald’s as being an operational company, but he was also a close friend of my father, Paul Langos, pictured above in the Medinah Classic in 1998. Mike and my Dad did business together and their close relationship lent itself to involve me as a mentee to Mike.

I recall being introduced to Mr. Quinlan when I was still in high school. At the time, I had no idea that he would become one of the greatest influences on my life and development of my business thought process. Mike saw potential in this young, promising, 17-year-old boy, and he took me into his sphere to learn from him all throughout my college and graduate pursuits at MIT/Sloan.

Mike’s lessons included teachings about his unique vision – his view of excellence in operations and the importance that the role of great customer service played in operational success. He guided me through the topics of leadership, product development and aligning the right people with the right processes to achieve business success.

His view on business operations was an outlier at the time – and his mindset that he imparted still influences me today. I clearly remember him telling me that, “My job is to enable everyone to rethink the operation constantly and enable them to make changes necessary to better the process.” He further coached me to trust my team, listen to their ideas, and support them regardless of the outcome.

Of the many conversations and interactions, I was able to have with Mike over the years, I have chosen three concepts to delve into more detail in a 3-part series that will follow. Coming soon, we will explore some of the most influential business and life lessons that I learned through his successes and disappointments on how to grow, run and scale a global operational business.