Sheryl Palmer, CEO of Taylor Morrison, the home-building company, told The New York Times in an interview that “Every 16-year-old should have to work at McDonald’s, because you really do learn how to work. You have to do it right and there are no shortcuts, because it is such a part of their brand. There are a lot of life lessons in that job.”
Sheryl recalls, “At 15, I got a job at McDonald’s, and worked there through high school and college. I went into marketing, doing a lot of community functions. When I was 20, I became McDonald’s Marketing Manager for San Diego.”
On the early leadership lessons she learnt while working at the international food chain, Palmer says, “As the sales manager at Sun City West in Phoenix, I was responsible for two dozen sales associates who were about 25 years older than me. I knew nothing, and was surrounded by these experts. But I knew I had to be a resource.”
So how did she cope? “It’s about building relationships. It doesn’t matter what the task is, it still comes down to people first. If I owned the responsibility for building a relationship with them, and communicated with them in a way they liked, it was amazing. I also respected their knowledge, and had the humility to know what I didn’t know and not pretend I did.”
Want to know other famous people who began their careers by working at McDonald’s? Check out the list here.
