The pathway to be an excellent leader
Frank Carney
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Mr. Frank Carney is definite an outstanding leader with directive, supportive and achievement-oriented bossing manner. His leadership excellence popularises the Pizza culture throughout the world and steers the Pizza Hut rapidly growing from a local family business to a fast food giant. And as a leader, Carney possesses key success factor condensed as vision, recognition and adaptability.

Background:

 

Pizza is at the root of Frank Carney's career. The first Pizza Hut shop was established in 1958 as a family business in Wichita, Kansa by Frank and Dan Carney. Carney brothers’ professional and dedicated operation in Pizza business quickly leads their business to success not only in American but also expend world wide. Frank Carney playing a major role in Pizza Hut's growth and development, he became President in 1969 and President, Chairman, and CEO in 1973. Frank and Dan sold Pizza Hut to PepsiCo in 1977, and Frank continued as its President and served on PepsiCo's Board of Directors until May 1980.

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Success factors of effective Leadership

 

Carney built their self confidence.

Carney with tremendous vision and foresight know the future.

Carney have the courage to make decisions.

Carney establish trust with subordinators, recognise by their followers, transparency, and credit.

 

Leadership Style

 

Directive & Supportive; Achievement-oriented and Transformational

Theoretically, a directive leader will emphasize formal activities such as planning, organizing, and controlling. Accordingly, as a supportive leader, he or she always shows in a supportive manner and concerns for group members’ well-being and fosters an emotionally supportive atmosphere in their group. While an achievement-oriented leader will set challenging goals, raise the target bar, and expect improving performance from their team members. (Durbin, 2001, p. 156)

Frank steers the direction of Pizza Hut and influences his fellow workers to accomplish a pizza kingdom apotheosis. His leadership art has been exhibited not only in making big strategy decisions but also in many routine jobs. As an excellent pizza business leader, Frank has a clear understanding of what his customer want in order to meet the demand. He is very supportive to his employees and especially those new hires. He managed to understand the needs, emotion and motivation of his people and give them his utmost support in both on duty and off-duty.

Therefore, he set a directive new pan pizza introduction plan which included raw feasibility study, development, product qualification and marketing test plan. He is very supportive to his employees and especially those new hires. He managed to understand the needs, emotion and motivation of his people and give them his utmost support in both on duty and off-duty. In meantime, as an achievement-oriented leader, he also set up a timeline for responsible persons and even held an internal Pan Pizza making competition to push his employees to work harder and work smarter. The development of Pan Pizza is just one of thousands of the cases where Mr. Frank Carney demonstrates his directive, supportive and achievement oriented leadership art.

Key Success Factors

 

Carney leadership philosophy can be condensed as following three key factors: visions, recognition and adaptability.

Frank Carney as a leader with tremendous vision and foresight knows the importance of trademark value to the whole company particularly to those with global business. Strategically, he chose standardisation as an initiate driving force to the quick and healthy development of the Pizza Hut group. He set up a strict but practical standardisation system to standardise all the Pizza Hut franchisees around the world. It is regulated all the Pizza Hut restaurants should be operated in similar ways. In Carney’s system, all the franchisees led by him should strictly have the same Pizza Hut logo, decoration and provide customer with four core pizzas, Pan Pizza, Thin 'N Crispy®, Hand-Tossed Style and Stuffed Crust to ensure the Pizza Hut trademark can be recognised globally (Pizza hut web). When the customer travel to another country it is delightful for them to enjoy the Pizza Hut’s same service as they are served in their home country. In this way, the vision of Frank Carney’s leadership permeate all the Pizza Hut organisations and manifested in the actions, beliefs, , values and goals to all his employees and even to his customers.

Frank Carney’s dictionary, every employee is a family member of Pizza Hut. More important, they are the treasures of the company. They enable Pizza Hut to expand its vision of excellence, to develop business strategy and to find innovation ways to better service its customer and communities. All the Pizza Hut employees receive recognition in Pizza Hut’s annual awards, quarterly newsletter. Besides, top performances even receive the CEO’s dinner award to get acknowledged by Frank Carney himself. Accordingly, Frank Carney believes that Trust, confidence and recognition on him and top leadership by employees are equivalent important. Frank Carney share information with employee on both how the company is doing and how employ’s own division is doing to help employees to understand Pizza Hut’s overall business strategy and how they contribute to achieving key business objective through monthly CEO letter, on-site survey and media tools. These effective communications by the leadership helps him to win the organisational trust and confidence.

Frank Carney believes that leaders, especially business leaders should analysis different markets need according to local culture and religions. It is very important that one should try the best to fit in the market not sit there and let the market suit you. He further stated every decision made should be customer focused and applicable in different market and entrepreneurs must think and act globally. To obey this golden rule, except traditional pizza, Pizza Hut also offers many local favourite foods in different areas of the world to help itself be quickly accepted by local customer. However, leadership adaptability is not only business and market based, it is also very important to ensure different employees can adapt the company’s operation mode and their colleagues. As almost every task is carried out in relationship with others. Leaders should build up the teamwork atmosphere and help employees to adapt each other in the organisation.


Frank Carney sets up a compulsory yearly, monthly and daily communication regulation depends on situations, within the organisation to encourage employees to get more frequent interactions and consequently be more smooth and harmonious with each other and organisation. Therefore, the strong adaptability of Frank Carney’s leadership steers his company and employees to go with the business flow and achieve great success.

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