BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"
Welcome to Be A Baller, where we're building a lifelong legacy for our families, communities, and the world! I'm your host, Coach Tim Brown, and I'm excited to for you join me on this journey.
On this show, we'll be talking about how to be intentional about building a lasting legacy. We'll be exploring what it means to leave a mark that goes beyond just our own lives, but has a positive impact on those around us and even generations to come.
Our guests will be individuals who have built a legacy in various fields – ministry, business, sports, and community service. And what's unique about our guests is that they're committed to the Wisdom Pledge. That means they're not just sharing their own stories and experiences with us, but they're also paying forward and sharing wisdom to empower the next generation.
So if you're looking for inspiration, guidance, and practical tips on how to build a lasting legacy that makes a difference, then you're in the right place!
So grab your earbuds, get comfortable, and let's dive in!
BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"
Shirley Rogers-Reese, McDonald's Dean of Hamburger University - A Legacy in Business
Send us a comment about the Be a Baller Podcast Episode. Thanks for support.
On this episode, Shirley Rogers-Reese, a seasoned leader with a wealth of experience accrued over 34 years in the McDonald's Corporation. Her unique insights into corporate culture, mentorship, and the power of legacy are invaluable. Shirley shares about her remarkable path—from working her way up through the ranks in the U.S. to becoming a pivotal force in expanding McDonald's operations in Indonesia.
Shirley recounts her family's encouragement to pursue bold career opportunities, including her transition to managing multiple restaurants overseas. Hear her touching stories about the lessons learned through her son’s initial struggles with the move and how a simple meal at McDonald's changed everything for him. These anecdotes reflect her belief that success isn't just about business outcomes—it's about nurturing relationships and overcoming adversity as a family.
Throughout the conversation, Shirley emphasizes the importance of developing skills that prepare the next generation for a bright future. She shares practical advice on financial literacy and the significance of building wealth sustainably. Shirley's mantra that "success is a journey always under construction" will resonate with anyone striving for personal growth and community impact.
Listening to her journey not only inspires us to value mentorship and community service but also encourages us to define our legacies through the lives we touch and the support we give each other. Join us in discovering how to balance professional aspirations with personal commitments, all while lifting others as we rise.
Be sure to tune in and share your thoughts! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review to help spread the wisdom and inspiration from Shirley’s incredible story.
When I came back, my husband said what do you think? I said, are you ready to move to Indonesia? And our son at the time he was seven and he just said you know, he was like I don't have a decision in this and we both looked at him and said absolutely not, we're going. When we first got there the second day, my son was so depressed, just really he couldn't believe we had done this. So I told my driver take us all to McDonald's. And we went to McDonald's and my son can eat he loves Big Macs so he had a couple of Big Macs and fries and some shakes and he said I think we could do this and that was kind of the change that he needed. But I remember the conversation because my son said mom, what happens if you don't succeed here? And I explained to him that failure is not an option. This is an opportunity for us to really show what we're capable of doing.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Be A Baller podcast where we're building a lifelong legacy. Today we have an exceptional guest, shirley Rogers-Reese, who brings over 34 years of experience in corporate and owner-operated levels within McDonald's Corporation. We'll explore how she leveled her expertise to build a lasting legacy. Shirley, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Tim, thank you so much for having me. I just feel honored. I know what kind of guests you have and I feel like I'm just blessed to be a part of that portfolio of folks that you've interviewed.
Speaker 3:Well, I appreciate your time and I'm just so excited to really really learn about you. I've seen you, I know some of the things, but I want to know where did this Abbott sports come from? You know, did you grow up playing sports? And I know you're a big Buckeye fan and all that when did that love for sports come from?
Speaker 1:so, um, my dad was an only child and he wanted five kids, but he really wanted five boys okay and he got three girls and two boys, and so my older brother would played every sport and I was his.
Speaker 1:I had to play with him so my brother was playing football and he said I'm gonna throw to throw the ball 50 yards cut to the right and you catch it. I caught it. Or if we're playing basketball, my brother would say, okay, it's me and you against them. You know what to do because we practiced it in the backyard. So that's what got me into sports. My brother, my dad, my father threw us in the swim pool. Neither one of us knew how to swim and he said but I know you'll do it. We dog paddled till we made it to the side. He said okay, now I'm going to teach you how to swim.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's a great story. That's a great story.
Speaker 1:Part of life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Talk about these Buckeyes. I know you got the OHIO. You showed me a picture. You were out at the Rose Bowl and all that. How was that Buckeyes? How has it been following the Buckeyes?
Speaker 1:You know it's been a journey and I will tell you that, having worked in Ohio and been a part of what happens at Ohio State, really my team and my staff, it's been great. It's been really great. I got a chance to really get to know Thad Motta when he was here.
Speaker 1:I know Jim Trussell and Ellen Trussell very well and I know the coaches. So you know you get a chance Urban and Cheryl, you got a chance to really interact with them and spend time with them and get to know them and I think that kind of has heightened my interest in Ohio State sports. But I'd also say we got three generations of Buckeyes in my family. You know, my husband went to the School of Law, my daughter graduated from there with a degree in communications and my granddaughter is a senior in the School of Honors speaking Japanese, and she just came back from a year in Japan. So we have a deep investment in Ohio State, whether it's education or it's sports. Right, we have invested.
Speaker 3:You got a lot of investment there. I know you had this love for basketball as well this McDonald's All-American game, the experiences I know you worked on that for a while. You also brought one of the games here in Columbus. Can you talk about how that worked out for you?
Speaker 1:Well, it's interesting. You know, we did the game when LeBron graduated from high school in Cleveland. We were responsible, and so my VP was. He was in charge of it, but he said told me, you take it and you run with it. And what you have is a lot of corporate people doing all the behind the scenes work, but the face of the game becomes the the region or the state that it's in.
Speaker 1:So when LeBron was graduating from high school, I got a chance to interact with him. His mom understand the operations of what went on in the stadium there, got to know the people and really our responsibility was make sure we sold out the stadium and ensure that the players were taken care of. My security I get you of my security was always there. They were with the players. There's things that couldn't happen. Everybody was going to be treated the same. We know that in some of the other tournaments, like the Adidas one and the Reeboks one, parents can come in and say well, we want our kids to have this at McDonald's. Everybody was equal. Lebron came to me and he said hey, I got a test on this day. I said I'll have a car waiting for you and a driver take you to your test and then bring you back to practice, and that was how we managed every single player that was there.
Speaker 1:So I got a chance to interact with them and really, you know, at that time LeBron was really good friends with Shaq. He had a Hummer that was parked outside the hotel. I had to put my arm around him and say young man, you got to take the Hummer home. Tell somebody to take it home because it can't be here. But so just throughout the whole process, you get to be around these kids and then most of them are great, great kids and they have really, really their parents. And you know, at that time, when he was coming up, they didn't have the NIL and all these transfer portal and all these things. They just had people making sure that kids were OK and they got showcased at the McDonald's All-American game and the money that comes from the game. I think it's important for people to understand. It's about taking care of the Ronald House. It's about our charities. It wasn't just about a basketball game.
Speaker 1:And what these kids do. They went to Children's Hospital. They got a chance to interact with really and understand why we do what we do. And McDonald's doesn't just sell hamburgers. It's about people.
Speaker 3:For me, that's awesome, you know, speaking of McDonald's, 34 years. How did you begin? How did your career start at McDonald's? Take us back restaurant.
Speaker 1:Most people don't know that, and so I knew a little bit about taking care of people, treating how to treat people. You know the things that need to really make them feel special when they come inside. So I was real successful at TWA and then I wanted to. My dad told me to get a real job. I'm just going to come clean. He thought that was not a real job. I was traveling all over the world and hanging out and, you know, just having a great time.
Speaker 1:And he said, a real job. So one of my best friends that I grew up with was a director in human resources for McDonald's and my brother-in-law worked for IBM and I had an interview, with three interviews with IBM, an interview with Xerox, and then I went out to lunch with my dear friend that worked for McDonald's. She and her boss and I had read this book. It was called Grounding it Out and it was by Ray Kroc and Ray Kroc was the founder of McDonald's. And so we were having lunch and just talking and her boss was trying to frame out for me here's how our programs work, here's how we hire people into the organization. And I started asking them a lot of questions and a lot of my questions came out of the book the book wow, and I read and they were asking me where did I get all this information? I said, well, I read this book called Grinding it Out, wow, and it was by Ray Kroc and the rest of it just took on a life of his own. They hired me and I was in an executive fast track program and that really got me started into McDonald's.
Speaker 1:And people you know say did you sell hamburgers? I said I did, absolutely. Knew how to make them knew. You know and you know, having a background because my dad owned a restaurant I had I was really interested in what went on in the back in the kitchen and how we got product in and who we got it from, and just really an education. And I'm like a sponge. I want to know more than anybody who thinks they know enough about the business. I wanted to be the one who really understood it and can explain it to whomever. All right.
Speaker 3:You just gave a nice plug for the book Grinding it Out.
Speaker 1:It's a great book.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's awesome. You know, as a former dean of Hamburger University, you implemented world-class training programs. What advice would you give to our listeners about building effective training systems? First off, and talk about your travel experience. I know you and the family moved to what country was it? We lived in Indonesia, indonesia. Yeah, can you talk about that experience?
Speaker 1:So first I'll talk about being the dean of Hamburger University. I was the first woman dean they ever had. I was the first woman of color that they ever had in that position, and so what you have as the dean is you have people coming from 33 different countries coming to go through two weeks of training to really understand the people side of the business as well as the equipment side of the business, and I was responsible for we did 32 classes a year and they probably had anywhere from 300 to 350 students with 32 or 33 different languages. So we had interpreters that worked on our team and I had a staff of about 50 people that worked on my team. And the critical part for me as being the dean of HU and being selected to be the dean, my thing was that the school had to reflect the customers that we brought in to train, and so I was getting people from all over the world to come and train and I was making sure that we reflected exactly what McDonald's was, and so it was fun for me.
Speaker 1:And so, having done that, one of my mentors said to me and he happened to be over all of Asia would you be interested in doing something international. So you asked me why? Did I tell you that I worked for an airline. So you know I spend a lot of time international. So I said talk to me. So we were at lunch one day and he said I have openings in three places. I have an opening in the Philippines, I have an opening in Malaysia and I have an opening in Indonesia. And he said you can tell me which one you thought you'd be interested in? I said well, there's a couple of things that need to happen. Number one I need to go home and talk to my husband. And number two I need you to tell me where you think I could best fit and really help the organization grow.
Speaker 1:Now, mind you, no other woman had ever gone international, let alone a woman of color. And so I went home and you know my husband, judge Guy Reedy, said I went home and I told him what the opportunity was and he said go, look at it. He said women of color don't get the opportunity to run a country. So if you're interested, then you got our full support. So I got on a plane and went over with one of our VPs and spent two weeks in Indonesia and we have a partner. We had a partner there At the time. We had 10 restaurants. We had a partner there and he and I traveled five or six different islands. Came back, he introduced me to his—we went out to dinner and he introduced me to his wife, who was the daughter of the ex-vice president of Indonesia and she owned five or six radio stations. She was very successful in her own right, and so after, when I came back, my husband said what do you think? I said are you ready to move to Indonesia?
Speaker 3:So and Judge Kyrese went, and your son Floyd went as well, didn't?
Speaker 1:he Right, my husband retired off the bench which was on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch. Everybody thought he was absolutely crazy and he was like we're going and we're going to do this. And our son at the time he was seven and he just said, you know, he was like I don't have a decision in this, and we both looked at him and said absolutely not, we're going. So I will tell you this when we first got there the second day, my son was so depressed, just really, he couldn't believe we had done this. So I told my driver take us all to McDonald's.
Speaker 1:And we went to McDonald's and my son can eat, he loves Big Macs. So he had a couple of Big Macs and fries and some shakes and he said I think we could do this and that was kind of the change that he needed. But I remember the conversation because my son said Mom, what happens if you don't succeed here? And I explained to him that failure is not an option. This is an opportunity for us to really show what we're capable of doing and I can only say we're going to be so successful that people are going to ask us how did we do it?
Speaker 3:Speaking of that, expound on that success part, how successful I know it was. Can you talk about that success?
Speaker 1:So when you look at Indonesia on a base of 10 restaurants just remember this, on a base of 10, in three and a half years, we built 85 restaurants, 85 restaurants on a base of 10, with no infrastructure already there. So we got buns from. And so let me back up, because I think it's important for you to know that Indonesia is an Asian Muslim country. The largest Muslim population in the world is in Indonesia. So you think about that, and so when you think about it, buns had to be halal. We got chicken from there. We got buns from Australia, from Singapore, from Philippines. We got meat from Australia, new Zealand. We got French fries from Canada, pies from Canada.
Speaker 1:So when you think about all these products that we had to serve and we didn't sell hamburgers, we sold beef burgers, and so all these restaurants that we built, we built praying stations so they could pray. In Indonesia they prayed five times a day. When Ramadan came, we put curtains up in the windows so the people that wanted to come in could come in and not feel bad, because their friends could see them from that. So it wasn't just about the restaurants, it was also about people. We needed to hire 1,500 people. So you talk about managers and crew people. I mean, we put an ad out for managers. We'd get 1,000 applications and all college grads and so we got to pick the best of the best to be able to be on our team.
Speaker 1:So it was more than what meets the eye, because when people think of McDonald's, they think of the infrastructure that we have built here in the US. We didn't have that infrastructure. We built it. We opened an ice cream plant, we opened lettuce, we opened a bun plant, we started building that. But think about doing all this in 10 different currencies to try to really build a business. And then, while we were doing this, suharto, the president of the country, was under house arrest and they were rioting and just towards the end of our stay, rioting broke out all over the country. It wasn't good.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's some kind of experience.
Speaker 1:No one can take it away For everybody.
Speaker 3:you know Boy. Wow, that's something you know. Shirley, as someone who mentors young professionals, what advice would you give to our listeners about prioritizing personal growth and development in their careers?
Speaker 1:personal growth and development in their careers. You know, when you think about mentoring someone, I always ask myself. I have to ask them what do they want from this, what is it that they're looking for and why? And I want them to really share that with me before I say you know, we'll spend the time, because sometimes people don't want to put the time and effort. Mentoring it on both sides is a lot of work, and so if I'm going to put the time and effort in, I want to know that you're going to use this and it is going to make you not only a better person but a better employee, no matter where you work or what you do or how you do it. And so I'll take it back to when I was the VP here in Ohio.
Speaker 1:I knew every one of my people. I knew every person on my staff. I knew them personally, I knew about their family, I knew what was important to them. I wanted to know why they even wanted to work there. And once you know someone that way, all you got to do is help them and coach them and direct them on where they want to go and what they want to do to be successful. My goal was to make successful people. It wasn't just about me and that was really how I focused on training and developing and mentoring and I used to call I'd take a group of people with me sometime, just so they could see me in action and understand that this wasn't about me. This was about them and how we make them better, because I'm going to get out of the way because they're going to run this.
Speaker 3:Wow, you got me excited. I'm ready to sign up. You know where do I sign up Pay on the dot this deal. You know how do you? How do you balance your professional commitments with other aspects of your life, such as family hobbies?
Speaker 1:I know you love golf and traveling, and you know one thing that I was taught and I was taught by both my parents that family comes first. My family comes first, no matter what, and everybody on my whole team knew that and I felt that same way about them and their families. If something was happening and you got to go, we got this. We got your back, we will take care of it. So I'm family first.
Speaker 1:I drive my husband nuts because I make him call every single one of his brothers and sisters every month and ask them how they're doing and what's going on. And I talk to one of my sisters probably five times a day. I've had three conversations with her already today. My brother and I talk and even though he lives up in Cleveland, we talk at least twice a week and that even when my mom was alive I talked to my mother sometimes three or four times a day.
Speaker 1:So I think number one family's first. I understand that. Prioritize that. And then, if I know, you look at your calendar and you know when you're going to have a busy stretch and I would tell my family. I said for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be crazy busy. I got to do a lot of traveling, I have inspections coming up, I have my president coming in town, and so everybody knew my calendar, they knew what was going on, and so I wanted to make sure that I took care of all my business personal business so that I could focus on what happens professionally, because that was the most critical thing for me right then and there.
Speaker 3:That's good you know. I know you're not only an accomplished professional but you're also involved in various boards, including nonprofit organizations. How do you see legacy building kind of intersecting with community service? I know you're about community as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I believe there's two things. Number one I believe you got to give back. You know we stand on the shoulders of somebody else and so we got to give back so that other folks can have the opportunities that we had. Now I do a couple of things. I'm on two corporate boards that I really enjoy Absolutely. One of them is called Butterfly and it's really a startup. A private equity group put $500 million into this company and what they do is it's an energy efficiency company.
Speaker 1:Nobody else in the world does what they do. We use our capital to invest in HVACs and hoods and refrigeration and thermostats and water all those things. Nobody else in the world does what we do. The other company that I'm on the board of if you like to eat, I would tell you it's Golden Corral, and I've been on the board of Golden Corral for about six years and absolutely a family-owned company and the leadership, the team, the company is really successful, and I will take you back to when you talk about when we went through the pandemic. People said that you know no more buffets. Well, golden Corral is probably the only buffet still around and we're doing very, very well Corral is probably the only buffet still around, and we're doing very, very well.
Speaker 1:Then, on the flip side of that, I'm on the board of NetCare, and so people ask me why am I on the board of NetCare? Because if you aren't familiar with NetCare, NetCare access is alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental illness, and those are the three things that they really focus on. And so that's a hard one for me, because I've had mental illness in my family and I think it's important that I stay connected to that part. What are we doing? My father was an alcoholic. I understand what alcoholics do, I understand what they go through and I live through it. So I have a passion for what NetCare does. My other passion is I know I can and I know I can. It's just we got to help our young people go to college, get an education and really be able to take care of their families. At the end of the day all of us it's about wealth creation, and we've got to create wealth to be able to continue to survive in this environment that we're in.
Speaker 3:Well, at least right in you kind of say way into my next question about this whole business planning and financial management, which you've been a big part of those things, you have significant success in business planning and financial management. Can you share some strategies for creating a robust for young people, because I deal with young people a lot. Everybody wants to make money. That's the big thing. That's the big thing, but there's a lot more to that and it's even so once you have the money.
Speaker 1:You know that's an interesting comment about money, because I go back to an article I read and I know you'll be familiar with it about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem will be the first one to tell you he didn't manage any of his money. He had an accountant that he trusted and he lost everything. And there's story after story after story, and so, when you think about it, a couple of things from Ofra.
Speaker 3:Ofra always resonates to me because she said she knows where every dime of her money is being spent and why, and just because you make a lot of money doesn't mean you don't understand how your money is being utilized and managed.
Speaker 1:And I, even my team we used to get stock what was we used to get stock at McDonald's? And I would talk to people about making good investments. I would bring Ameritrust into our meetings and at least give them an hour to make sure that our folks would understand. When I would hire people, I would want to know well, what do you want for this job? And it's not just the salary that you're getting. We're talking about wealth creation and creating wealth to be able to take care of your family, cover the needs that you need and really be able to save some. And that's really the challenge. And everybody's not going to be a professional basketball player. Everybody's not going to. You know 2,500 professional football players. There's not room for everybody.
Speaker 1:So my thing is what are you going to be successful at and have an income stream that you can really be able to live once you retire and once you go on to whatever is important to you?
Speaker 1:And I say that because I have my own company. It's called SR2 and Associates LLC and what I do is I do a lot of public speaking, but I also go into businesses and talk to them about how you know what they need to do from a financial standpoint, what they need to do with their people, how to really who's your leadership people, who's your succession planning and what are the things that you need to do to grow your business and drive your business. And part of that comes from I ran a billion dollar organization. I tell people I'm just a poor black child from Los Angeles and I had a chance to run a billion dollar organization. I ran the country of Indonesia. Everybody doesn't get those opportunities, so how do I maximize that and help educate the people that are coming behind me? Because, guess what? You get a chance to do those same things.
Speaker 3:That's a good word there, that's a great word there. You know we hear, especially in our community, we're talking a lot about generational wealth. You know, we hear that all the time. Well what's your definition of that? What would you say to someone who's a young person who's thinking about that concept? You know?
Speaker 1:what does that look like? What?
Speaker 3:does that look like?
Speaker 1:Well, see, generational wealth. I think you can look at it in several different ways. I think, hopefully, my grandkids aren't waiting for what I'm going to give them to be their generational wealth. The goal is okay, let's position you to grow and make a living and also talk about how do we grow the wealth that you have. But I think that part of it is, I believe, that we come from an entitlement generation.
Speaker 1:I'm part of that entitlement because our parents, your grandfather, your father, they wanted us to have a better life, and so our kids are. I keep telling my kids y'all are not getting any of my retirement, Don't expect it, there will not be anything left for you. Okay, so you better go on and get out there and get your own. But in fact, helping them, helping them prepare for this, and how do I look at that? I used to tell my peers we didn't sit at the dinner table and my father had the Wall Street Journal in his hand and talk about, well, what's our stock doing and how does it look. My kids got that. We got a chance to open up the Wall Street Journal and show them how to read stock. And our youngest son has an undergrad in economics. Why? Because we talked about those things and they understand. But they also think they're entitled to whatever. We're going to leave them. And I keep telling them it's not going to be anything because I'm going to try to spend it all while I'm traveling. But on the serious side, I think that those are the conversations we need to have with our children today. Those are the kind of things and you got to start it when they're young. Okay, Savings I used to get savings bonds for all my grandkids and we got those because we wanted them to understand.
Speaker 1:Here's when you get one. Here's what you expect to do. When you get money, you don't get to go spend it all. No, put half of it away and put let's talk about what you're going to do with the other half. And that starts young. And if we don't start it, then it never happens. You know it and I know it. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, this has been some great wisdom for me and for our audience, and that's what this Be A Baller podcast is all about. As a guest on Be A Baller podcast, we ask all our guests to commit to what we call the wisdom pledge, and that is, you know, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, all those guys. They have a giving pledge where they're giving away all their money. So we ask our guests to commit to giving away all their wisdom, and what we mean by that is in conversations, just every like it sounds like you have all these conversations where you're just giving away wisdom. You know, and so can you tell us one piece of wisdom you gained through your career that you'd like to share with the audience today?
Speaker 1:You know, I have a saying that I say that success is a journey and it's always under construction, and so when things aren't going well, you don't stop wanting to be successful. You just figure out how do I get through this challenges that we're having so that I can move on. But it's a journey and nobody said it was going to be easy. Nobody said it was going to be times when you're going to have to back up and reassess and re-put your strategies together and come up with another plan. But it's always under construction and I look at life that same way Life is always under construction. There will be some things that happen in our life that we don't control, but you know what? It's part of the journey and I get to be on the journey with great people like you, wow that's good.
Speaker 3:That's good as we wrap up. This is a legacy podcast. So what is the legacy of Shirley Rogers Reese? What is your legacy?
Speaker 1:Do you know something? I think people write your legacy. I don't think you do, but here's how I look at it. I was born and I will die, but in the middle of it, you know, is that dash? And that's what I'm living today and hopefully I will have treated people the way that I want to be treated. I will have mentored the people that were very important that I worked with. I would have treated my loved ones with dignity and respect and I would have given all I could give as I lived this life that I had. And that dash part is a legacy that somebody will write for me, because I won't write it. Wow.
Speaker 3:Well, that's powerful. We got to close on that one. You know. This is all we have time for today. I want to thank our special guest, shirley Rogers-Reeds, for sharing her experience and, most importantly, for her commitment to preparing not just preparing, but we talked earlier about sponsoring that next generation. Being in that room pounding I'm sure in your time at McDonald's Corporation you pounded that table for somebody give them an opportunity, they can do it, they can do it and you put your name on the line for a lot of people. So I thank you for that, and so today on our podcast, we thank you for being here and, as always, continue being a baller. Thank you, shirley.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Tim. I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:If you enjoyed our show, please share this podcast with family and friends. The A Baller Podcast is available on all major podcast stations. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and produced and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School.