Mr Skinner has masterminded a comeback at McDonald's. The global restaurant chain lost customers in the late 1990s and early 2000s as it focused on expansion at the expense of the quality of its food and service.
A fast talker who likes to use his hands to emphasise a point, he is blunt about the kind of person he wants. "I don't want to be hanging around anybody that doesn't get up today wanting to do it better than yesterday."
In the past, Mr Skinner says, McDonald's would set unrealistic growth targets then neglect its core business as it tried to meet them. "We sought out a lot of other things. Should we be in the chicken business? Should we buy other restaurants? Should we be in other services? Should we sell our real estate expertise? All the while [we were] not focusing where the real money was, and that's on the core."
