Smart Leaders
Shake it up
How to embrace change
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business Philadelphia | March 2008
Page 1 of 1
Jim Rudolph
CEO, Rita’s Water Ice Franchise Co. LLC
Jim Rudolph doesn’t just
want to solve problems, he wants to fix them. The chairman and CEO of Rita’s Water
Ice Franchising Co. LLC says
the difference between simply
solving a problem and really fixing it can be the difference
between a successful business
and an unsuccessful one.
For instance, if a restaurant
serves you a bad meal, then
picks up the check, it has
solved the problem. However, the next guest may get a bad
meal, too, because the problem
hasn’t been fixed.
Rudolph developed this philosophy during his years as a
franchisee when, beginning in
1976, his family developed and
operated 47 Wendy’s stores in
the Greater Pittsburgh area.
That experience helped him lead
Rita’s, an Italian ice chain to
exponential growth, and today,
Rita’s has more than 470 locations in 15 states and revenue
of more than $240 million.
Smart Business spoke with
Rudolph about why he wants
his employees to be like turtles.
Be a risk-taker. When you
think of a turtle, you think
of an animal that moves
slow. That’s true, but we
have another understanding
of the turtle.
In our opinion, a turtle is
an animal that takes a risk.
Every time they stick their
head out, they’re taking a
risk.
We want to have turtles.
We want people to take a
risk. We want people thinking outside the box and
doing something different,
because if we don’t, we’re
going to keep doing the
same thing. And if we keep
doing the same, we’re going
to get the same results, and
that’s not acceptable.
Challenge your employees. You
have to make your employees feel like they are a part
of it. Today, particularly,
people want to be given a
reason for why they do what
they do. We as managers
have to do two things with
our people. No. 1, we need to
challenge them, and No. 2,
we need to compensate
them. It’s very important to
challenge people because if
they’re not being challenged,
they’re going to get bored.
And if they’re bored, they’re
not going to enjoy it.
Challenge them by setting
goals and objectives. Find
out what they need to do,
find out what we want them
to do, and then measure and
manage them from that.
Where are you, and what do
you need to be? What do we
need to do to go forward
here?
Get the facts, then sell the concept.
I have a tremendous commitment to people. I learned
this from Dave Thomas
early on. He used to tell us,
you’re not in the hamburger
business; you’re in the people business. That is absolutely the key, and I say that
every day.
People are our most
important asset, and without
them, we’re not going to
make it. So you need to
think, ‘What do I need to do
to help my people?’
I don’t have all the
answers. So I listen. I have
two ears and one mouth. By
listening to my people, I’ll
be able to create a vision
with them of where we want
to go.
I don’t tell people what to
do; I convince people. I sell
people. My wife says it all
the time, ‘You convinced me
to marry you.’
It’s the same thing with
trying to get people to support us. I use three words.
You have to believe us, trust
us and respect us. Because
as a franchisee, I believed
the franchisor, and I trusted
them and respected them.
So how do I convince
them? By showing them
where we are and why do I
think this and why do we
want to do this. And if I’m
wrong, tell me! I’m open to it. Every idea we come up
with is not right. But I’m
willing to listen. Actually, I
get the best ideas from my
employees.
Embrace change. I had two
objectives when I walked in
here. One was changing the
culture of this organization.
Two was changing the culture of the franchise partners.
It’s all about the culture.
I’ve got a great saying up on
my wall. A culture is created
by what you expect. You
have to let them know what
the expectations are and be
excited to hear back from
them.
You have a cell phone, so
every time you get a new one, is that easy to learn?
No, never. Change is difficult.
If it was me by myself
alone, OK, I can handle
that. But it’s not about me,
it’s about the people. So it’s
about making sure that the
people understand where
we are and where we’re
going on a continuous
basis.
As much as I work at it
and communicate it, I still
find people behind me. So
it’s constant communication,
I’m not sure I’m succeeding
all the time. But it’s what I
think about all the time.
HOW TO REACH: Rita’s Water Ice Franchising Co. LLC, (215) 633-9899 or www.ritasice.com
