麦当劳无往不利的奥秘（下）

不惧后来人

    “汉堡大学”（Hamburger U，麦当劳的培训机构）的理念曾经一度遭人耻笑，人们并不把它放在眼里，但对于斯金纳这种既没有大学文凭，也没有MBA学位的人而言，管理培训绝非儿戏。荣任CEO一年后，斯金纳组织了一个领导力培训项目。该项目历时九个月，参与项目的是全公司最优秀的管理人员，他们共同研究如何解决麦当劳所面临的重大问题。此外，斯金纳还自掏腰包，发起了一个专为新晋管理人员开设的培训项目。

    多年来，斯金纳极力推进公司的人才培养计划，这也许将成为他留给麦当劳最丰厚的一笔“遗产”。 在今年四月份的美国“全国招聘日”，公司一次性招募了62,000名新人，目前，麦当劳仅在美国国内就拥有700,000名员工。他要求所有管理人员至少培养两名“继任者”，一名能即刻接替工作，一名则可以在不久的将来就任，或者按照麦当劳内部的说法，一名是“随时接任者”，另外一名是“未来接班人”。人们很容易推测，这种复杂的人员配备和斯金纳本人的晋升之路有着密切的关联。每年，包括斯金纳在内的麦当劳高管团队会对公司200个高层职位及其储备人才库进行审查，总共有400人。“我们会逐一讨论每个人的状况，”麦当劳首席人力资源官里奇•福洛施如是说。

    员工可能会因为随时有“后来者居上”而感到惶恐，但斯金纳对于这样的员工从不心慈手软。斯金纳这样说道：“青出于蓝而胜于蓝，很多人受不了这种危机感。我常说，我的目标就是让身边的人都能超越我，这一点我从不害怕。”斯金纳对此身体力行：无论是分析会，还是电话通话，他都非常尊重自己的二号人物唐•汤姆森的意见。2010年至今，唐•汤姆森一直担任公司首席运营官。

    当然，斯金纳自己也有“随时接任者”。分析家们普遍认为他的接班人就是汤姆森。麦当劳公司并没有强制规定退休年龄，66岁的斯金纳也不会轻易透露他的退休计划。对这个问题，他倒是开玩笑的说：“人们总是问我几时退休，我都会告诉他们：‘等我的咖啡杯盖用完再说。’”

    翻译：刘进龙/富来细特/汪皓

Don't be afraid of your No. 2

    There was a time when the idea of "Hamburger U," McDonald's training facility, used to elicit titters, but to Skinner, who didn't graduate from college or earn an MBA, management training is no joke. He created a leadership institute a year after he became CEO. One nine-month leadership program brings together top-performing executives to work on addressing big issues for McDonald's. Funding for another program, for all new officers, comes out of Skinner's own budget.

    This push for talent development may be Skinner's greatest legacy at the company, which has 700,000 employees in the U.S. alone, thanks in part to its April "national hiring day" spree of 62,000 workers. He requires that all executives train at least two potential successors -- one who could do the job today, the "ready now," in McDonald's parlance, and one who could be a future replacement, the "ready future." One could speculate that this redundancy might have to do with the way Skinner came into his current position. Every year the executive team, including Skinner, reviews the top 200 positions in the company and the feeder pool, which means it ends up looking at about 400 people. "We talk about all of them," says HR chief Rich Floersch.

    Skinner doesn't show much sympathy for employees who can't handle the thought of having a subordinate right behind them who's capable of tackling their job at any moment. "That's always a danger, and some people can't live with that," Skinner says. "I always like to say that my goal is to surround myself with people smarter than I am. I'm not afraid of it." And Skinner seems to practice what he preaches: At analyst meetings and on calls, he regularly defers to his No. 2, Don Thompson, who moved into his current job as chief operating officer in 2010.

    Skinner isn't exempt from having a "ready now," and Thompson is widely believed by analysts to be his heir apparent. McDonald's doesn't have a mandatory retirement age, and the 66-year-old Skinner won't say when he plans to make the move. He does offer one lighthearted hint: "People always ask me when I'm going to retire," he tells me. "I say, 'When I run out of lids.'"