A McDonald’s Inquiry Into Strategic Competitive Advantage

Opening Dialogue(In diverse pairs: across functions and levels)

1. What is Our Strategic Competitive Advantage: A company can consistently outperform rivals only if it can establish a competitive strategic advantage – a unique value proposition that it produces better and more completely than anyone else. This kind of advantage requires the full investment of every member of the team – building on traditional strengths and discovering new capabilities that will carry the organization to higher levels of strategic excellence.

A. As you look at the Chicago Region of McDonald’s from the perspective of our strengths, and as you think about the business context and opportunities, how do you define our “strategic competitive advantage?” Define it: what is the strategic competitive advantage you want and believe we have the capability to create? Right now? In the moderate time frame? Longer term?

B. What results do you want from this meeting? What would make this week a good one for you?

2. Leadership for Competitive Advantage: We all pride ourselves on the things we do that add the most value to our work. Some of our activities add lots of value, while others do not. Likewise there are some things we do as leaders—our style, our approaches to managing people—which engage everyone else in strengthening our competitive advantage. Let’s reflect (see questions below) on some of the essential things you do that you feel add the most value to our competitive advantage.

A. When you think of your precious time, and how you spend it, what are the things you do which, in your view, add the most value in terms of strategic competitive advantage? Any examples?

B. In the ideal, if you were able to re-craft what you do to enhance and expand your competitive advantage, what parts of your work would you want to keep doing, let go of, or do new and different? Keep doing? Let go of (things that are not really needed)? Do new or different?

C. As you reflect on your leadership here at McDonald’s, you have probably had ups and downs, peaks and valleys, high points and low points, successful moments, etc. Please describe one achievement or situation that you are proud about – a time when you feel you had a significant impact on strengthening our competitive advantage. What happened? What were the challenges? What was it about you or your leadership style? Lessons learned?

D. Let’s think now about other leaders that you have heard about or seen here at McDonald’s that do an outstanding job of engaging people to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Is there a story or example that stands out for you—something that exemplifies the kind of leadership approaches we should aim for more often? Can you describe the leadership? Insights?

3. Making Trade-Offs: The essence of strategic competitive advantage is making trade-offs. Successful organizations know both how to “preserve the core” of what they do best, and how to simplify by letting go of things that are no longer needed. Knowing what to preserve and what to let go of is essential.

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A. As it relates to sustaining our strategic competitive advantage, what are the things we do best organizationally – for example, measurement systems, leadership approaches, ways of developing others, accountability systems, ways of delegating and building trust, technologies, etc. – things that should be preserved and strengthened even as we change in the future?

B. Assuming that no organization can do everything well, there is a need to simplify and streamline. There is a need to let go of things that given precious time constraints are not needed. Assuming that very few things are sacred, what things (little or large) do you feel we should consider letting go of?

4. Imagining New Possibilities for Competitive AdvantageIf anything imaginable was possible, if there were no constraints whatever, what would the ideal McDonald’s organization look like if we were rapidly to regain our strategic competitive advantage? Describe, as if you had a magic wand, what we would be doing new, better, or different? Envision it happening? What do you see happening that is new, different, better ?

5. Moving From A -->B: How Do We Get There From Here?

A. What is the smallest step (an action, a decision, an initiative) we could take that would have the largest impact?

B. What is one thing we have not even thought of yet – something that could have an enormous payoff?

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