麥當勞為何不懼衰退？

????但斯金納對自己的領導能力卻充滿了信心——好像這位“龍套”一直在默默磨練演技，時刻在為大制作做準備。公司員工和分析師們認為，他熱衷于滿足消費者的需求，即便要為此放棄自己的理念和偏好也在所不惜。比如，幾年前，公司對新款咖啡杯蓋進行了大量測試，最終推出的那一款備受消費者喜愛。而實際上，經常喝咖啡的斯金納對此卻并不滿意。但斯金納并沒有否決大多數人的意見，而是想出了自己的解決方案：他存了一批舊蓋子留著自己用。

????從廚房做起

????看起來，斯金納對麥當勞的廚房輕車熟路，這是因為他有過在這里工作的經歷，公司40%的管理人員都有類似的經歷?！緛嗰R遜公司（Amazon）CEO杰夫?貝佐斯與頂級大廚理查德?布雷斯都曾在麥當勞廚房打過工?！克菇鸺{16歲時，在達文波特的麥當勞得到了一份工作。斯金納的父親是一位磚瓦匠，他回憶說：“在我們家，如果想有錢花，就必須工作?！碑敃r是1962年，制作炸薯條的土豆還需要由員工剝皮、漂白和切片。

????在餐廳工作六個月后，斯金納離開愛荷華州，加入美國海軍，在中途島號（Midway）與奧里斯坎尼號（Oriskany）航母上服役。（在奧里斯坎尼號航母上服役期間，他曾與約翰?麥凱恩有過短暫共事的經歷。）十年紀律嚴明、令行禁止的軍人生涯錘煉出斯金納優秀的品格。服役的最后一年，他遇到了后來的妻子凱思琳，于是決心安定下來（目前，他們已經共同生活了42年。在一位戰友的鼓勵下，他申請并成為一家麥當勞餐廳的見習經理。

????斯金納對麥當勞的忠誠為他贏得了良好的聲譽。他總是默默完成自己份內的工作，從不炫耀。丹尼斯?埃內坎在2010年之前一直擔任麥當勞的歐洲業務總裁，他說，將來，麥當勞的首席執行官肯定會得到“Jim Skipsdinner”的綽號，因為他總是喜歡工作結束后，一個人在酒店安靜就餐，而不是為了拋頭露面去參加正式的宴會。埃內坎現任法國雅高集團（Accor）CEO，他表示：“即便沒有必要，有些人也會自以為是，認為自己必須露面。但吉姆卻截然不同?！痹诠救温毜膸孜桓吖苊枋?，斯金納對于故弄玄虛的官僚主義作風痛恨不已，還有人稱他就像有一臺“精確的廢話檢測儀”。（但這并不意味著他缺乏幽默感。實際上，他非常風趣。他說自己最喜歡的電視劇之一就是《好漢兩個半》（Two and a Half Men），而且打算聯系劇組，就如何在這部情景喜劇中加入艾什頓?庫奇的戲份談談自己的想法。）

????But Skinner's leadership has been utterly self-assured -- it is as though the walk-on had been quietly practicing for his big shot all along. Employees and analysts say he's guided by a zeal for satisfying customers, even if it comes at the expense of his own ideas and preferences. A few years ago the company did extensive testing on new coffee-cup lids and rolled out a version that consumers liked -- and that Skinner, who happens to drink a lot of coffee, really didn't. Rather than overrule the masses, Skinner came up with his own solution: He keeps a stash of the old lids on hand.

????From the kitchen up

????If Skinner seems as though he knows his way around a McDonald's kitchen, it is because he once worked in one, as did 40% of the company's executives. (Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos and Top Chef Richard Blais did too.) At age 16 he got a job at McDonald's in Davenport. "I was in a family where, if I wanted to have any spending money, I had to work," says Skinner, whose father was a bricklayer. It was 1962 and employees still peeled, blanched, and sliced potatoes for French fries.

????After six months behind the counter, he left Iowa behind for the Navy, serving on the aircraft carriers Midway and Oriskany. (He briefly overlapped with Oriskany veteran John McCain.) The hallmarks that came with spending nearly a decade in a highly disciplined, execution-driven environment became classic Skinner. He met his future wife, Kathleen, during his last year in the service -- they're still married 42 years later -- and decided it was time to settle down. He landed at McDonald's as a restaurant manager trainee after a Navy buddy encouraged him to apply.

????Skinner earned a reputation as a loyal McDonald's man, one who always did his homework but never felt the need to show it off. Denis Hennequin, who until 2010 served as the company's head of Europe, says the future McDonald's chief would eventually earn the nickname "Jim Skipsdinner" for his preference for having a quiet bite in the hotel once business was finished rather than attend an official meal for the sake of appearances. "Some people have an ego that makes them need to be seen even if it's not necessary," says Hennequin, now CEO of hotel operator Accor. "Jim is not like that." Several former executives described Skinner as having no tolerance for bureaucratic double talk, one noting that he has a "good crap detector." (None of this is to say he's humorless. In fact, he's rather funny. Ask him about one of his favorite shows, Two and a Half Men, and he'll offer his thoughts on how he would write Ashton Kutcher into the sitcom.)