A Former KFC Executive shares lessons from the drive-thru.
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Monica Rothgery has a gift for leadership. She is a natural leader. The Drive-Thru Experience: Practical Wisdom for Leaders.
Her leadership experience fueled an innovative approach to management in restaurants and her mission to empower front-line managers. The former KFC chief operating officer’s service in the Army has given her valuable skills, which she uses today as an author.
“Getting trained by the U.S. Army to become an officer is some of the best leadership training there is,” Rothgery spoke to Shawn Walchef who hosts the podcast Restaurant Influencers.
When she made the transition from being a military leader to running a restaurant, she experienced ‘culture shock. It was impossible to lead people with no professional experience.
She learned quickly that expectations for restaurant staff members were not the same as those of soldiers who receive weeks of training. They were all starting out in their careers.
“When I told soldiers they had to do something, they had to do it. If I told a team member to do something, they could just leave, and sometimes they did.”
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Rothgery learned that in order to be a leader who could inspire her staff on a deeper level, she needed to do so.
To get them to care for the restaurant and its customers, you have to first take an interest in each person, rather than just treating them as team members. It was quite a change to be in charge of an army unit. She had to be different in order to inspire.
Rothgery’s leadership philosophy is based on storytelling and recognition.
She soon had the opportunity to put these ideas into practice across cultures. She brought her idea to Southeast Asia, where she helped build KFC stores in Thailand. “Does appreciation transcend culture?” She asked.
She was surprised by the results: By focusing on appreciation, storytelling and recognition, she inspired her team to perform better than their expectations. They were not stopped by language barriers or cultural differences.
She still faced a difficult road, despite her successes. Local culture is so risk-averse. Fear of failure was made worse by the pressure to succeed. She remembered a moment that was particularly humiliating, when her Thai team took a long time to adopt her strategies.
“I told the team, ‘I’m going to teach whoever wants to learn,'” Rothgery stated. Only two of the eight people who attended the initial meeting showed up to receive leadership training.
It worked over time. Over time, it worked. “That was a win,” Rothgery’s reflection
Drive-Thru Lessons
Rothgery’s book, Drive-Thru Lessons She takes her readers on a journey behind the scenes. She shares her hard-earned wisdom gained from the toughest of days in frontline leadership.
Her book, written for restaurant managers distills leadership to its very core. “This is every mistake I ever made, all of the bad shifts and late nights,” She explained.
This book is centered around Rothgery’s stories of her early career, in the 90s. She was a Taco Bell general manager during this time.
“Being a restaurant general manager was the hardest job I ever had, way harder than being in the army,” Rothgery said. “I quit every day in my head, but I always came back the next day.”
Her stories are honest and raw. Her stories are raw and honest. She is a firm believer that good leadership has the power to change people’s lives forever.
“I wrote this book for frontline leaders,” Rothgery emphasizes. “The ones who think their job is just running the next shift. But they have the power to shape lives—most importantly, the lives of the people they manage.”
Rothgery believes that the true heroes in the restaurant industry are the leaders who manage the daily pressures, team dynamics, and customer satisfaction. “Your job is so much bigger than you believe. You change lives,” She said that restaurant managers should realize the importance of their jobs.
“You’re not the bottom rung of the food chain in careers. You’re a coach, a teacher, a pillar in your community.”
Rothgery’s book is reaching more people and she continues her mission of empowering restaurant teams to show their worth in the industry. “My dream is to lift them up and help them realize their potential,” She said. She said.
“Frontline leaders are so often doing the job of the person underneath them, but if we could get everyone doing their own role, we unlock growth.”