David Novak is the King of Restaurants.
His résumé reads like every business school student's dream. He's the visionary who scaled KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell under Yum! Brands, one of the world's largest restaurant companies with over 45,000 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories. As co-founder and retired Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, Novak was named one of the world’s “30 Best CEOs” by Barron’s, one of the “Top People in Business” by Fortune and one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review.
Today, Novak is CEO of oGoLead, a digital leadership development platform he created to help people become better leaders. He's also the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Taking People With You.
In our interview, we discuss a range of topics, including his childhood spent living in 32 trailer parks, how to get people to care about your brand, how leaders can be more authentic, the power of recognition, how he came up with the idea for Cool Ranch Doritos, when to listen to naysayers, his best career advice, his insights for entrepreneurs, his favorites meals at Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell, and much more.
Zack Friedman: By the time you were 12 years old, you had lived in 32 trailer parks in 23 states. How did your childhood shape you?
David Novak: My dad was a surveyor so we moved every few months with fifteen or so families on the survey team. My Mom would check me into the new school and say, “David, you better make friends in a hurry because we’re leaving.” That’s how I quickly learned to size people up and figure out who the good ones were and who I should avoid. I think this experience really helped me develop a good gut instinct when it comes to assessing people and talent, which is an invaluable leadership skill. Moving so often also forced me to work through the fear and anxieties that always come when facing new situations. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, so I’m more adept than most at meeting new people, walking into new environments, and dealing with unforeseen problems.
Friedman: You’re best known as a highly successful CEO who built a global restaurant powerhouse. But you also have a strong background in marketing with iconic brands like Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Frito-Lay and others. In a hyper-competitive, crowded marketplace, how do you get people to care about your brand?
Novak: My goal with every brand is to always make it charismatic, arousing popular loyalty and enthusiasm. You do that by truly listening and responding to the voice of your customers and then building a one-of-a-kind likeable brand personality. You have to be relevant and true to your brand identity, and at the same time, constantly innovate.
For example, everything we do at Taco Bell is focused on giving it a youthful, irreverent personality, and we are constantly innovating around developing products that are portable and less messy to eat on the go. We introduced the quesadilla and believe it or not, Jeff Bezos was our celebrity spokesperson! He did a commercial with a group of techies who described our new quesadilla as the hottest new handheld on the market and sales went through the roof.
A must have in this hyper-competitive, multi-option world is marketing that breaks through the clutter so you stand out in a powerful way. This is more of an art than science and is much easier said than done. Just watch all the lousy ads on the Super Bowl if you need any proof. It requires finding outstanding marketing talent, which I always make a priority.
Friedman: In your #1 New York Times bestseller, Taking People With You, you write about the importance of “extraordinary authenticity.” How can leaders be more authentic, including showing more vulnerability?
Novak: The first thing is to realize that no one has your DNA, so don’t try to be something you are not. People will smell a phony a mile away so stay true to yourself. The best leaders are the ones who embrace that they are like no one else. Realize you have a unique set of strengths and weaknesses, interests and knowledge, and know that you are always going to be a work in progress.
Along the way, be open and honest about what you don’t know and ask for help. It’s amazing how liberating it is to do and how much more people will get behind you when you do. Nobody wants to follow a know-it-all.
Friedman: You also believe in the importance of finding good ideas in unexpected places. Can you tell us the story about coming up with the idea for Cool Ranch Doritos?
Novak: Early in my career, I was head of the Frito-Lay account at my ad agency. One day, I decided to take my team to the grocery store to look around and get some ideas. If you think we spent time in the snack food aisle, you’d be dead wrong. We actually found our inspiration in the salad dressing aisle. We discovered ranch dressing had emerged as the most popular and fastest growing flavor.
I’ve always been a big believer in pattern thinking, so I asked myself: would ranch dressing work as a chip flavor? This question led us to develop Cool Ranch Doritos, which is now one of Frito-Lay’s biggest selling and most profitable products. The ranch flavor traveled to Lay’s and Ruffles potato chips as well.
Friedman: What’s the most misunderstood thing about leadership?
Novak: This is easy. I think leaders underestimate the power of recognition. I believe purposeful recognition is the secret to achieving great results because I've seen how impactful it can be in both my life and business. I've also witnessed how devastating it can be when it's absent in the life of an individual, a team or even a large organization.
If you give people the recognition they’ve earned, if you show genuine appreciation and acknowledge the unique things people have to offer and do, then you will drive significantly better results. At the same time, you will lift the spirits of everyone involved, including yourself, and create a positive energy that becomes contagious. My question is, why aren’t more leaders recognizing others?
Friedman: You’ve said that there is a “global recognition deficit.” What is so important about the power of recognition and how does it inspire people to choose greatness?
Novak: Recognition is so powerful because it shows people you care and it drives great results. But you have to do the right kind of recognition. It can’t just be willy nilly and left to chance. You need to define what behaviors drive business results and then recognize those behaviors. This is what I call purposeful recognition.
The reason recognition inspires people to greatness is pretty simple. When you recognize, it shows people that you’re paying attention and what they do really matters, so they are inspired to keep doing it. It also validates the person doing the work and makes them feel good. Remember, people won’t care about you until you care about them. Recognition shows you care.
Friedman: How do you know when to ignore the naysayers and when to listen to them?
Novak: When I first came up in business, I thought I had to have conviction in my ideas and when others disagreed, I thought they simply didn’t understand my brilliance, so I plowed my way to the finish line thinking I was right. I learned some hard lessons along the way, and eventually discovered that in many cases, the people who raised objections were actually making good points.
As I matured in business, I learned to ask myself, “What if they are right?” when I was faced with objections from naysayers. I started taking time to truly listen and understand their concerns and dig deeper into whether they were valid or not. If they were truly legitimate issues, I would make the changes that ultimately led to better execution.
Leaders have to be confident and vulnerable enough to listen to alternative points of view because what if the naysayers are right? Once you’ve done your homework on the validity of the objections, it’s time to make a decision and set the course with courage in your convictions. Only then should you be truly confident.
Friedman: The Education of an Accidental CEO is the tile of your autobiography. You’ve described your career as “accidental” and “more a matter of the paths not taken than the paths that were.” What can we learn from your “accidental” journey?
Novak: While my career was accidental because I never expected to be a CEO, in retrospect, the journey I took was no accident. You never really know what you’re capable of when you find your passion, love what you do, and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals. That’s my story.
I found my passion in marketing and advertising and that drove me through my career progression. I guess it’s no surprise I ended up at Yum! Brands because I love advertising, marketing, people and food.
I was always on the lookout for the next job – one with more responsibility – and my competitive nature would drive me to do whatever it took to get that position. This passion and drive allowed me to move up the ranks – right to the corner office.
My advice to aspiring leaders is to do what you love, be ambitious, and do whatever it takes to achieve your career goals. You never know what you’re capable of when passion is the fuel that drives you.
Friedman: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to start the next Yum! Brands?
Novak: The best entrepreneurs are always students of consumer behavior. My advice is to create or disrupt categories by solving the most important consumer problems that occur most frequently. A lot can be learned from Colonel Sanders. Fried chicken was a popular Sunday family meal in the 1960s but was really hard to make at home and very time consuming. So, the Colonel created a pressure cooker that allowed KFC to offer delicious fried chicken fast -- virtually on demand. He eliminated the hard work and mess at home and made it so convenient, you could now have “Sunday dinner seven days a week.” Future entrepreneurs will solve big problems just like the Colonel did. By the way, the Colonel created what is now called the home meal replacement category.
Friedman: What are your three best pieces of career advice?
Novak:
1. Make recognition your most powerful leadership skill. Recognition is a tremendous privilege of leadership because it builds a culture where everyone counts and drives great results.
2. Do everything you can to get in a grateful state of mind. You make your best decisions when you are grateful and your worst ones when you’re angry.
3. Be a know-how junkie. Being an avid learner is the single greatest characteristic that separates a great leader from the run of the mill.
Friedman: When you’re hungry, how do you possibly choose among KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell?
Novak: This question is like asking me who my favorite grandchild is. Honestly, I love each one of the brands for different reasons: Original Recipe at KFC, Pan Pizza at Pizza Hut, and the good ol’ crunchy tacos at Taco Bell.
Friedman: What is something we should know about you but don’t?
Novak: I’ve started a new company called oGoLead with the mission to make the world a better place by developing better leaders. We offer all kinds of free content as well as online digital leadership training.
I’m personally having a blast hosting podcasts I post every two weeks. I’ve done over 60, with leaders like Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan), Indra Nooyi (Pepsi), Ken Langone (Home Depot), Gary Kelly (Southwest Airlines) and Tom Brady (New England Patriots). I’ve always loved best practice visits and learning from others, so the preparation and interviews with my guests keeps me pumped up and attacking life every day.
I also love sharing the good, bad and ugly of my leadership journey in our Essential Leadership Traits and our upcoming Purposeful Recognition: The Secret to Achieving Great Results digital training programs. Go to OgoLead.com and check it out. Sorry, I can’t help myself, I’ve always been a salesman.
