Heroes in Business - David Novak of Yum! Brands is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

David Novak of Yum! Brands is interviewed by David Cogan of Eliances Heroes radio show amfm. They discuss the power of appreciation as focused on in Novak's book Oh Great One. 

Up in the sky, look, it's captivating, it's energizing, it's Alliances Heroes. Alliances is the destination for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs, inventors, leaders, celebrities, and startups. Where our heroes in business align. Now, here's your host flying in, David Kogan, founder of Eliance's. What a morning it's going to be. Thank you again, Money Radio. It is off the charts today. We have four amazing heroes. Our first hero is the co-founder and chairman of Yum Brands, running a Fortune 500 company. Restaurants like KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.

We'll also be having another hero after that. She is the Arizona Secretary of State, Michelle Reagan. And we'll be having another hero. of State, Michelle Reagan, and we'll be having another hero, that's right, the former Arizona State Attorney General who's been in all three, that's right, all three branches of government, and we'll be wrapping the show up with a writer, producer, and filmmaker, Shelby Elwood with Crobania Media. With that, we're going to get started. That's right. Fortune 500 chairman and co-founder of Yum! Brands, David Novak.

Good morning, David. I'm so excited to have you here today. It's great to be on your show, David. Look forward to it. So you co-founded and you're the chairman of a Fortune 500 company, Yum Brands, KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. You grew this company to global status. I got to ask you, how did you do it? Well, I think it really comes down to a very simple formula for success.

And that is that if you put your people capability first, you really recognize that people matter most. Then you end up satisfying more customers, and then you make money. I think in business, too many times people start out saying, I want to make money, but they don't really think about how you really get there. And there's no way you can get there in any business of any size without focusing on your people capability. you can get there in any business of any size without focusing on your people capability. And the other thing that I think we really did that energized our organization and made everyone really feel like they count in the organization is we had a lot of fun recognizing and celebrating the achievements of others. And, I mean, just incredible the way and the size that you've been able to build it.

Now, you're also an author, right? Yes, I have. I've written a couple books, and I've got a new one coming out that I'm really excited about. It's called O Great One. It's a little story about the awesome power of recognition. It's a parable, which is basically based on the experiences that I've had in my life and put it into a nice little short story that's really fun and entertaining to read, but I think has a lot of poignant insights that can really help any leader or any person

as they think about how to really grow their business or improve their life at home or at work. And for those of you tuning in, you can reach David Novak. He is the chairman of Yum! Brands by going to ogothebook.com. And again, the title is Oh, Great One. In fact, in your book, there's an area where you talk about an appreciation jar and the concept of recognition. Tell us about how this jar came to be and really why it's so important in the essence of using it. Well, the jar came to be for Father's Day. it came to be when uh for father's day my my daughter uh she got all of our family members and you know the close people my life to to write down what they appreciated about me what they

liked about me you know whether it was i was funny or i had prank jokes or whatever or as generous as you know but everybody wrote down on little strips of paper what they liked about me and put it in this jar and they gave it to me and I opened it up and my grandkids came over and gave me each one of the strips. And it was like, it was the most amazing thing that, it was the best gift I ever got because it was really a gift from the heart of all the people that I loved and cared about. And I asked my daughter, I said, where'd you come up with that idea? And she said, I came up with myself. Well, I said to myself, geez, that is such a great idea. I would love to love to take that idea and create a product and basically a brand around the basic idea that you can recognize others. And in the book, I talk

about receiving that one of the main character in the book, a CEO runs Happy Face Toy Company, Happy Face Toy Company actually receives an Ogo jar from his grandson. And, you know, for me, it was very interesting because in my career, I've always made it my number one priority to recognize people and have fun doing it. I've always had very unique ways to recognize people. When I was president of KFC, I gave away a rubber chicken, a floppy chicken. And when I was president of Pizza Hut, I gave away this cheese head like the Green Bay Packers. And then when I was the CEO of Young Brands, I gave away these teeth, what I call walk the talking teeth, which

were a lot of fun. And I would write on each one of them and tell people what I appreciate about it. And people just absolutely loved it. And, you know, the, the Ogo jar was the way how my daughter sort of flipped the corner on me and recognized me. And I just, I just love that gift so much. And, uh, but I think what it basically shows is that everybody in every walk of life has an enormous power, enormous capability to make a difference in other people's lives by simply recognizing them for what they do and how they add value to their life and to other people's lives. And, you know, I, and in leadership, I always call recognition the privilege of leadership. You know, it really says to people that you're watching and that you care. And the reason why I wrote the book, Oh, Great One, this little story about the awesome power of recognition, is that I wanted to really make the world a better place by teaching everybody I know about the value and strength of recognition and giving people very helpful ways that they can do it in their life and business or any avenue of life that they happen to participate in.

Absolutely, absolutely amazing, amazing. And you're listening to Alliance's Heroes on Money Radio, AM 1510 and FM 99.3. Are you a hero in business? Go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S dot com. The place where entrepreneurs align. And we have David Novak, who you can contact at O-G-O the book dot com. He is the chairman and co-founder of Fortune 500 company Yum Brands. Now, David, rumor has it that you're going to be retiring. Is that right? That happens. Actually, it's going to be May 31st.

I'll move on. Now, why would you leave now at what one may assume is the peak of your career? Why would you leave? Well, I've been with the company since 1997. I've seen it grow and seen it flourish. one may assume is the peak of your career. Why would you leave? Well, I've been with the company since 1997, and I've seen it grow and seen it flourish. And I absolutely love the company with all my heart. And I'll always be around as a co-founder of Yum! Brands to advise and counsel and coach other people. And I look forward to doing that. But I also have learned a lot that I want to give to other people. And the big thing that I think I've learned is just this power of recognition. And

it's a vocation of mine. You know, sometimes in life, you're lucky when you do what you love and you find some aspect of your life that really turns you on and gets you excited and you know you can impact others and hopefully the world and make it a better place. And what I learned in my job over the years, and we are in 120 countries, is that there's basically a global recognition deficit. People all around the world are craving recognition, love recognition when they get it, and would work a lot harder if they feel appreciated for what they do. And I've really experienced that and benefited from that. And what I want to do now for the rest of my life is try to build awareness of that fact.

And I'm starting by writing the book, Oh, Great One, which I hope everybody will enjoy. And so far it's received great reviews, so I think that will be the case. And then I'm going to take that and build off of that and actually create a new company called Ogo Enterprises, where I'm going to show people in very personal ways how they can recognize the amazing people in their life. And for me, you know, it's not, I don't feel like I'm retiring, David, as I think Ken Blanchard wrote in his book, he had something I said. He said, don't retire, refire. I think I'm refiring. I love it.

And that's what I'm trying to do. And that's not what I'm trying to do. That's what I'm going to do. Excellent. Well, thank you. And thank you so much for providing these incredible brands for all of us to be able to go to. I certainly frequent all of us to be able to go to. I certainly frequent all of them. And with that, again, David Novak, you can reach him at ogothebook.com. And when we

return, we've got the next hero, Arizona Secretary of State Michelle Reagan. Thank you again.