Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2012 | Page 12

Grow Market Lead

tive on ROI,” he says. Additionally, he
says, private equity often can provide
a brand with more tools and resources
and an ability to pay down existing debt.
This past April, Pendergast took over
as president and CEO of The Krystal
Company, which has about 350 locations
in 11 states throughout the Southeast.
Once again, private equity fueled the
deal when Tennessee-based Argonne
Capital Group purchased Krystal and
Pendergast took the reins.
Pendergast believes that his own
progression through the “development”
side of franchising benefits him as CEO.
“That experience provides a growthoriented focus to leadership,” he says.
“I think about expanding the business
while fully aware of top-line sales and
unit growth.” He says he also has an
eye for eliminating waste and improving productivity. “I think my experience
allows me to balance an understanding
of the bottom-line efficiency with the
importance of top-line growth.”
He’s excited about his new role at
Krystal and the future. “Energy and
attitude are important intangibles in
leadership,” he says. “We are looking for
these traits as we build our new management team because they’re really
top-down characteristics that benefit
the entire organization.”
LEADERSHIP
What is your role as CEO? A CEO

has four main roles: 1) People: recruit,
support, and develop a senior team of
A-players. 2) Strategy: lead the development and ongoing refinement of a
winning value proposition for team
members, customers, and franchise partners. 3) Execution: drive the management processes and secure the financial
investments necessary to consistently
execute the strategy. 4) Culture: foster a
culture that is aligned with our mission
and consistent with our values.
Describe your leadership style. My

goal is to lead the organization in a fashion that is customer-driven, fact-based,
personally engaging but demanding,
collaborative and transparent, and fueled by rapid experimentation.

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Franchiseupdate Iss u e IV, 2 0 1 2

“My goal is
to lead the
organization in
a fashion that
is customerdriven, factbased, [and]
personally
engaging.”

and cultural fit. 2) Communicate and
reinforce your company’s values, plans,
and performance at every opportunity.
3) Ensure the senior management team
visibly “role models” expected behavior. 4) Recognize and reward behaviors
that support your culture (in addition
to bottom-line results).

What has inspired your leadership
style? I learned at Procter & Gamble

Are tough decisions best taken by one
person? Tough decisions, by definition,

the power in engaging your customers
in every aspect of one’s business and
investing the time, energy, and money
to deeply understand your customers’
perspective and experience. I learned
at McKinsey & Company the power
of fact-based decision making. With
the right set of facts and analysis, you
can change the mind of even the most
stubborn senior executive. I learned from
Harsha Agadi, my CEO at Church’s, the
power of combining deep, genuine engagement with each individual on your
team with demanding high (and continually increasing) levels of performance. I
learned from Aslam Khan, my largest
franchise partner at Church’s, the power
of sharing detailed results across the organization and the impact of leveraging
the energy and insights of your entire
team. Finally, my girls have taught me
the power of performing and learning
from rapid experiments and learning
from both successes and failures.
What is your biggest leadership challenge? To instill in every manager in

our company the importance of building
a team of A-players and to equip every
manager with the resources needed
to do so.

Where is the best place to prepare for
leadership: an MBA school or OTJ?

It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
I’ve had some sort of job for the last 20
years, but spent just 2 years at Harvard.
In total, the OTJ has taught me more
about leadership, but the MBA was a
great accelerator.

don’t lend themselves to unanimous
agreement. These decisions are made
better when informed by group discussion. Ultimately, however, one person
makes the call and takes responsibility.
How do you make tough decisions?

When possible, I take the following
approach to making tough decisions:
1) Go and see the problem/situation
firsthand. 2) Clarify what decision really
needs to be made. 3) Gather and verify
the critical facts. 4) Seek diverse and dissenting opinions. 5) Think through the
implications of potential outcomes. 6)
Make the call and measure the outcome.
Do you want to be liked or respected?

Respected.
Advice to CEO wannabes: 1) Be ex-

cellent in your current role. Don’t get
ahead of yourself. 2) Hire or develop
your replacement. You can’t get promoted if you’re indispensable in your
current job. 3) Build your network and
never burn bridges. You never know
who might influence your next big opportunity. 4) Clearly communicate your
goals to others and have the confidence
to ask for what you want.

How do you transmit your culture from
your office to front-line employees?

MANAGEMENT

1) Make hiring and promotion decisions based on capability, commitment,

What does your management team
look like? It’s composed of Al Ryan,