Morgan Flatley of McDonald’s
How creative are you?
"FEARLESS CREATIVE LEADERSHIP" PODCAST - TRANSCRIPT
Episode 380: Morgan Flatley
Here’s a question. How creative are you?
I’m Charles Day. I work with creative and innovative companies. I’m asked to coach their leaders and their leadership teams to help them succeed where leadership has its greatest impact. The intersection of strategy and humanity.
This week’s guest is Morgan Flatley. She’s the Global CMO of McDonald’s.
McDonald’s is one of the most visible, valuable, and influential brands in the world. Since the company’s birth, it’s been powered by creative thinking and innovation. Today, that’s more true than ever.
“I mean, the first thing to say is and I tell my teams this, I don't know if I've said it in this public forum, but I actually don't think of myself as a creative person. I love creativity, but it is not my gift. But I love surrounding myself with people who it is their gift. And I feel like my job is to nurture it and protect it and give it a space to grow and defend it a little bit.”
Leadership is an awesome responsibility. Do it well or do it badly, you will change people’s lives, either way.
The creative industries have some exceptional leaders. At their heart lies a passion for creating an environment in which others can unlock their gifts.
A passion, as Morgan describes it, for nurturing creative thinking, for protecting it and giving it a space to grow.
In the middle of all that, it is sometimes easy to overlook everything that you bring to the table. To underestimate your own gifts.
I was fortunate to spend a good part of 2006, 7 and 8 in the company of Sir Ken Robinson. His TED Talk, “Do School Kill Creativity?” has been watched 75 million times. I’ve included a link in the episode notes.
His basic belief that we are all born creative, resonates so powerfully with people that whenever I was with him, he was stopped over and over again by strangers who told him that he had changed their lives. He died much too young and much too soon.
My definition of creativity comes from him. Original thinking that has value.
In my work, I have learned that most leaders don’t fully recognize their own extraordinary abilities. And many of the very best leaders instinctively feel that they are not creative. I have lived that reality myself.
Surrounded by world-class creative ideators and talent, it is easy to believe that we lack their gifts until someone helps us to see ourselves differently.
I was fortunate to have someone do that for me. Today, helping leaders to see all of their strengths is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do.
Creative thinking comes in many forms. And its value is unlocked exponentially when, as leaders, we gain the confidence to see ourselves as we truly are. Powerfully creative in our own right.
This does not make creative leadership a competition. It makes it an equation focused on the people that work for us.
An equation that says recognizing our own talent can make us even better at unlocking theirs.
Here’s Morgan Flatley.
Charles (03:44):
Morgan, welcome to Fearless. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Morgan Flatley (03:46):
Thank you, Charles. It's great to be here and thanks for having me.
Charles (03:49):
When are you first aware of creativity being a thing in your life?
Morgan Flatley (03:55):
You know, it's interesting, probably, probably not until I'd say, my 20s, early in my professional life. So my second job out of college was in advertising, and I think that's when I started to, I'd say, appreciate creativity. It's interesting. I wouldn't say that I wasn't creative growing up, but it wasn't a force in my life. But I mean, I remember distinctly, and it's been kind of, I think, significant throughout my career when I was at Saatchi & Saatchi. So I, you know, in my 20s, I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, and I worked on big packaged goods brands, Procter and J&J, in account management. So, you know, on the more business side. And that's when I started to just appreciate creativity, I would say, and appreciate it as kind of a way of thinking, of a thought process that was very, very different than my own. So that's the time where I think it first started to flare up for me that there was something different around creativity.
Charles (05:15):
How did you express yourself growing up?
Morgan Flatley (05:20):
So I played sports. I definitely identified as an athlete. And I think maybe in some ways... when I was a kid, you were either in sports or you were in the arts. And so maybe that's why creativity is less of a strong memory of mine from childhood, is I very much identified as an athlete, put a lot of time into sports and, therefore, less time into what I saw as the adjacent path, which was around arts and culture and creativity. But I would say that sports and academics and service, but sports and academics were a big part of my life growing up and who I was as a kid and a young adult.
Charles (06:06):
So you were competitive?
Morgan Flatley (06:09):
Yes, and I think I probably still am, fiercely competitive, though you would never know it. It's hidden behind a very warm, friendly, nice exterior. But, sports really instilled in me a lot of, I think, strong qualities and gifts, especially as a young girl and as a woman, like playing team sports, the collaboration, the teamwork, the discipline, but also, the competitive drive to win, was a big piece, was a big piece for me, for sure.
Charles (06:44):
How does that show up today?
Morgan Flatley (06:47):
Well, I think actually it shows up a lot in who I am as a leader. I really value a team environment. I really value a group of people coming together with a goal, and in essence, winning, working hard, sweating it together and winning. That team environment is incredibly important to me and incredibly energizing to me as a leader and I think it's how I set up a lot of the work I do. But I also think this "competitive" nature... You know, and again, maybe it goes back to sports. I tend to have a philosophy that if you put the work in and you surround yourself with the right people, and you come together around a shared goal, anything is possible. And I do think that fuels me in a lot of the work I do.
Charles (07:49):
So are you conscious of defining success explicitly? I mean, with that background, obviously, if you're an athlete, success is winning. Are you conscious from a leadership standpoint of being clear about how to define success for the team? I'm always surprised by the relatively small number of leaders who actually really are explicit and can actually tell you what success looks like. Do you have that sort of clearly defined for yourself and your team?
Morgan Flatley (08:13):
On certain projects, yes. And it's less around winning. I mean, I think you could go to winning is around share, winning is around growth, it's around metrics that we look at from a business environment. But I also... I think I tend to define winning with my team around... The word that comes to mind is ‘pride’ a little bit. And so, especially as a marketer, and especially at McDonald's, I tend to think about it around how do we continue to assert ourselves as a leader in this space? And so maybe that's where winning comes in a little bit. How do we assert ourselves, or demonstrate that we can be excellent in this space?
Charles (09:05):
You talked a little bit about doubling down on creativity as a life force, as a driving force in terms of McDonald's. What does that mean to you? How have you gone about doing that?
Morgan Flatley (09:17):
I mean, the first thing to say is, and I tell my teams this, I don't know if I've said it in this public forum, but I actually don't think of myself as a creative person. I love creativity, but it is not my gift. But I love surrounding myself with people who it is their gift. And I feel like my job is to nurture it and protect it and give it a space to grow and defend it a little bit. So I think that's an important backdrop because, I'm not doing any of the creativity. But the reason I'm so focused on it at McDonald's is, I think part of it is we have this incredible, scale recognized brand around the world. And yet, I think it's very easy to, I won't say become forgotten, but get ignored. And so I believe that creativity helps us break through and stand out. And I believe creativity helps our brand be memorable for people.
And I'm still working through this in my head today, but I really believe brands need to let themselves be co-created with youth today. So we need to let go of much of the brand and let other people bring their own creativity to the conversation, and that's part of what makes us interesting and engaging and a part of culture is letting other people bring their own creative forces and ideas to the brand.
Charles (11:10):
I want to go back to your point that you think you're not creative. I'm just so drawn to that. Do you think you were taught that you weren't creative? Or do you think you were never taught that you were?
Morgan Flatley (11:25):
Oh, that's a great... I mean, I would have said I'm just not so. But I actually, I mean, I do wonder if some of this goes back to the conversation about, you're either an athlete or you're an artist, and I wonder... I think I just was never taught that I could be. It's funny. In some ways, I did envy my friends who went to the art studio and who took art classes in college and... But that was just never part of my experience or my identity, interestingly. So, I think I actually was never… I never really tried. And I don't know, I don't know why.
Charles (12:19):
Do you see problem solving as an act of creativity?
Morgan Flatley (12:24):
Yes. I do. I do think… I actually think, you know, strategic problem solving can be very creative. And you know, one of... And so maybe it's also my definition of creativity. I think innovation is highly creative. But I do, I actually… and maybe I don't give myself enough credit, but I think of myself as a fairly literal, strategic thinker versus… the best creative people I've been around are just, I mean, literally, all over the place, and that's not the way my brain works. And I actually find it so intriguing to sit with people like that, because it's so different than how I think and how I problem solve. But maybe that's just my own definition of what creativity is. I mean, sometimes it's hard to actually define what is creativity.
Charles (13:26):
Yeah, I think that's true. I think that my definition, which I got from Sir Ken Robinson, may he rest in peace, was, ‘original thinking that has value.’ And that helped form my understanding, I think, of what it means to lead a creative business and to be a creative leader in the broadest sense of the word. My experience is you don't have to be producing original content as an output to be a creative thinker, but it would be, I only know you slightly, but it would be hard to imagine, given what you have achieved and who you are, that you are not a creative thinker, in fact.
Morgan Flatley (14:01):
Well, I mean, I love your definition. Because I do hope that, you know, that I'm bringing original thinking that adds value. I think that broadens it much more than what I've had in my mind as much more of a physical product. I tend to think of great creativity as making me feel something versus, again, original thinking that has output feels like it could be much more strategic.
Charles (14:26):
Well, and I think it's worth thinking about only from the standpoint that if we actually believe we are capable of creative thought, it tends to encourage us to take more risk in our thinking or to be more, adventurous in our thinking. And I think, actually, we sort of gain confidence by the... But I remember taking a strategic business course when I was probably in my mid, late 30s, and running my own business. And it had never occurred to me at all that I was strategic, that I was capable of strategic thinking. And the professor pulled me aside and he said, "You know, I just want you to know, you're one of the most strategic people I've ever come across." I looked at him like he was crazy, and, but absorbed it over time.
And it gave me a tremendous amount of confidence to lean into those instincts and to recognize that I actually might be able to provide value from that standpoint. And so I just offer you that as a frame of reference, because, again, I think it's… I doubt very much that you're not a creative thinker of some significance, actually.
Morgan Flatley (15:24):
I actually really like this... Because you can then start to define there are different forms of creativity, you know, and ones that you might excel in and others that you don't but you nurture because they're part of the, you know, adding value piece.
Charles (15:40):
Yeah, I think that's exactly right. You talked about creating the conditions and protecting the people in the process. How do you go about doing that? What, what do you prioritize from that standpoint?
Morgan Flatley (15:52):
I think there's a few things. It's not necessarily a checklist, but I think there's a number of things that are just part of how I tend to operate as a leader. The first is just who I surround myself with and I think, you know, diverse teams of people from diverse experiences leads to greater creativity and thought. And then I am highly attuned to creating an environment where, I mean, the phrase today is like psychological safety. But I'm very attuned to create an environment where people can speak up, share ideas.
And, there's this quote that's written on my board in my office, my whiteboard like this, which came from Dan Wieden that I picked up from the Wieden team, which I think is something like, “Don't act big.” So, I always feel like part of my role is to listen and help build. And I never feel that I know the answer. I mean, in creative meetings, I'm very open about how little, you know, how little I know. Because I feel like, ultimately, the magic of it is surrounding yourself with great people who do then bring the answers together. So, I do find that I'm really focused on the environments that I create and the people who are around the table.
Charles (17:22):
Yeah, there's nothing like getting that casting right and standing back and just watching it happen, it's magical.
Morgan Flatley (17:27):
It's amazing, it's the best feeling. It is the best feeling when you get it right.
Charles (17:31):
Yeah, it really, really is. And your reference to, about Dan Wieden, I mean, I'm not sure, this is probably a ridiculous statement, but it's hard to think of anybody, any single person who's had more effect and influence on unlocking creative thinking in a business environment than he has over 40, 50 years.
Morgan Flatley (17:49):
Yeah. I never knew him. I just know that his team and the culture that he created, which, you know, still amazes me how that thrives today. So I wish I had known him.
Charles (18:03):
Yeah. I never met him either, but I know a lot of the people that have worked for him and had a first person relationship with him and they all, they all just speak, of him with such reverence, and you can understand why, to your point, when you look at the way that company has sustained the level of creative thinking that they're capable of, it really is pretty extraordinary.
You talked about creating psychological safety, which, and I couldn't agree with you more. What do you think are the biggest threats to essentially creating trust? I mean, you're talking about creating an environment in which trust is ever present. What do you think are the biggest threats to that from a leadership standpoint?
Morgan Flatley (18:34):
I mean, I think, coming in as a leader and thinking you have the answer is one of the biggest threats. I usually expect that I'll be amazed at what comes out in the room. So I often go into those meetings with very little, almost no preconceived notion about what's going to come out. So I think one of the first things as a leader is feeling you have the answer. I think there's a lot that goes into how you ask questions. And it seems so silly, but especially as the leader, everyone reacts to the tone. Someone told me early in my career, you know, the leader sets the weather, and so everyone acts to the tone that I bring into the room. So making sure I bring the right tone into the room. And even when I ask questions, it's much more about learning and kind of seeking to understand and collaborating than anything that's, I'd say, threatening or negative.
And then the other piece is, when I'm in those sessions, I always feel like I'm just one of, there's no hierarchy. I'm just one of the team, and learning along the way. and then I also have, I have a really high, high degree of trust in, you know, many of my creative partners where... and I think this is part of what's helped. Like I ultimately will defer to them. When I'm unsure, I will defer to my creative partners who I really trust and who have years and years and years of experience in this.
The other piece that I do, which I tend to tell, when I work with our managing directors around the world, I really try to just see what I feel when I'm working through creative business, creative kind of ideas, creativity. So I remove, all of my strategic frameworks and I just see how I feel about things and I tend to find that that can be one of the best determiners of great work, you know, getting to actual creative output now, but like great work is how it makes me feel, whether it be in my gut or on my skin, what do I feel as I go through a creative review?
Charles (20:52):
So you must have a lot of confidence in those instincts to give them that kind of power?
Morgan Flatley (20:59):
Yeah, it's interesting. I think I do. I mean, I think that's something I've learned over the years. That's taken a long time to really trust those instincts. It certainly wasn't something that just popped up in the beginning. But I, you know, year after year after year, review after review, you start to build up some of that instinct and intuition. And I think it's a little bit of pattern. You start to have some pattern recognition, though I guess that can be risky because, you know, pattern recognition can take you to what's familiar versus what actually is going to stand out.
Charles (21:35):
You talked about being conscious of the energy that you bring into the room, is that something that you think about before you literally step in? I mean, are you that conscious of it?
Morgan Flatley (21:44):
I definitely... especially if I'm having a bad day. If I'm having a tough day, I'm... Especially if I was going into any meeting, but it's especially if I'm going into a creative meeting where we're trying to problem solve together where, I think you need to have this safe environment, where people can bring their ideas and take risks. I'm actually super conscious of it. In fact, sometimes I will take a few minutes to get myself in the right mind space, if I've had a tough day, before I go into those meetings, because I think it can make such a difference.
Charles (22:25):
McDonald's is a brand whose values are very clearly defined. I mean, you guys have really put some thought and effort into that. How do you bring those to life internally? How do you make those meaningful? And actionable, you know, you and I have both seen companies where they, they stick them on the website, they stick them on the wall, and then nobody is ever held to account to them? How do you bring them to life?
Morgan Flatley (22:46):
I'd say the first piece is just talking about them a lot. We've really recommitted to our values over the last few years. And so, there was a real effort and, you know, it was under Chris Kempczinski's leadership that he wanted to really recommit to the values. We spent a lot of time as leadership teams, talking about, thinking about the application of our values. And we still, again, it was a very intentional effort for a while, we still reference them often in meetings, especially if we're talking about our crew or the communities that we serve our role in communities.
So I guess where I think about it the most is I think one of our core values is just around everyone is welcome. The diversity that we serve, diversity of people that we serve and that we employ. And I do think about that a lot as the CMO, just how do we think about all the diverse communities that we serve and what does that mean? And that's not just, in the US where it's very prevalent, but as you think about globally, the people, the communities where we operate, this notion that everyone's welcome in our restaurant, how democratic we are as a brand, the notion of serving. We talk a lot about servant leadership and how we serve the people around us. So, I don't know that it became, you know, it's very prevalent through a short period of time, but it's become kind of, I think, innate in the way we do work, the meetings that I show up in the people that I surround myself by.
Charles (24:34):
As you look back at your career so far, so, so many different things obviously have changed. What's changed most from your perspective? What's most different about the job you're doing today compared to when you first began?
Morgan Flatley (24:45):
I mean, I actually, it's really a little sad. I feel like I actually don't do much that actually lands in the world. So that's one of my big reflections is, I don't actually create much anymore, which is, and again, it's a little sad. I definitely miss it. You know, early in my career, whether it was something as simple as a packaging design. I mean, I remember one of my first projects on packaging design when I was at Gatorade or building content for a program, or developing new products, when I was in new products roles, where you actually are closed in and building and creating something. And in my role, I don't do any of that anymore. It's... So, you know, that has been a really significant shift for me, especially in this job, in this global job, sitting at the corporate table.
And then the other shift, which I think all leaders go through, is just how you inspire through people. Everything I do ultimately gets done through other people. And so, you know, my role has shifted so much to how do I inspire people to get to the outcomes, to get to the great work that I want, and that we all want. You know, how to lead through others. If I just think about myself early on, it's been such a dramatic shift, but probably most significantly, kind of moving into the corporate side at McDonald's.
Charles (26:19):
So where do you get pleasure from now? What's the end of a great week or a great day or a great month?
Morgan Flatley (26:25):
I mean, I actually, I love... There are two things that give me, I'd say, pleasure right now. One is getting out into the market and spending time with the teams, you know, whether it be our restaurant teams, whether it be the marketing teams. I was in China last week, which was amazing, and met with a significant piece of the marketing organization there, went into a number of restaurants and met with restaurant teams, and just seeing the pride, the energy, the enthusiasm, and the impact you can have on those individuals through just a few minutes, was amazing. So, so that gives me a lot of energy. And then the other pieces is, and I say this whenever I get the pleasure of, sitting in a creative meeting, like sitting in a creative meeting and talking about creativity and the work is the other piece that gives me a lot of pleasure. And I keep, every once in a while, managing to force myself into one, but it's very rare now.
Charles (27:40):
And the flip side, I guess, is what's the responsibility of a job like this? I mean, most of us are never going to have a job with this kind of visibility. What's that feel like?
Morgan Flatley (27:49):
I mean, I feel... I don't ever think about the visibility, for better or for worse. We can come back to that... But I do think about the huge responsibility to the people and the brand. I'd say it's more around being incredibly humble about it and aware. But I think if you become too aware of that, you can stop. It could, it could, freeze you up if you, if I think too much about my role, it could actually grind things to a halt. So I mostly think about how humbled I am that I sit in this position, and the responsibility I have to the people, and to continuing to grow the brand and, as we say, kind of shine the Golden Arches for the future.
Charles (28:44):
Did COVID change that? Did COVID amplify that? How did COVID affect that perspective?
Morgan Flatley (28:52):
So, as the first year and a half of COVID, I was in the US. I was the US CMO. And it made me intensely aware of our responsibility to our people. And, again, my team, but also our restaurant teams who, by the way, were like in the restaurant every single day. And so, in the US, our restaurants stayed open, and so I had huge awareness of the risk that they were taking on and the responsibility they were taking on. So, I think that was a very humbling moment, just as, as a leader, not necessarily as a CMO, but just as a leader in the business. But it was also an incredible creative renaissance for us in the US during that time.
And I think, and I've said this before really, because we had to stop and think about the role our brand was playing in people's lives when the world was shut down. And that forced us to get really clear on what our brand stood for. And I think for us, it's the little moments of happiness, the bubbles of joy, the food, the reliability that we could provide to people when there was just tremendous fear and anxiety going on in the world. So, it did help us turn away from the promotional piece that we tended to focus on and think really clearly about the role of our brand and what we did in society and in communities that we served.
Charles (30:37):
And how do you hold on to yourself in the middle of all of that? I mean, COVID, obviously, was an incredibly intense period. But even in a post-COVID world, you're dealing with so many different inputs. I mean, you've got multiple relationships, you're a leader, you're a mother, you're a wife, you've got so many different dynamics at play. How do you keep hold of yourself in the middle of all of that?
Morgan Flatley (30:56):
The beauty, I guess, of, you mentioned, of being a mother is, you know, I go home at night and, you know, my kids need to be tucked in and read a book at night. And I actually think through COVID, because I was home and my kids were home for a big chunk of it, that helped me stay really grounded, and I actually think it helped me be a really human leader to our teams, because, you know, my kids were running in and out of Zoom calls. And I was having to step away to help someone with their homework assignment.
But I would say today... You know, I was on a call this morning with the Global CMOs or the CMOs from around the world and my son came in and he's seven and, I mean, that's… that helps keep it real. Actually, interestingly, two other of the CMOs’ kids came in too. So, I think that has helped me keep it all in perspective, I guess.
Charles (32:08):
It really has changed the nature of leadership in so many ways, hasn’t it? I mean, it's made us all more accessible and human, I guess, for want of a better description. I'm not sure there's a better description than human. But I think it has allowed people to see, to see each other in a more open way. And I think giving other people the confidence to show themselves in a more three-dimensional way.
Morgan Flatley (32:26):
I really believe that. I mean, I think, for me, but for lots and lots of people that I work with, that's been a big change.
Charles (32:35):
Obviously, your career is a long way from being over. But as you look back at it so far, do you have any regrets?
Morgan Flatley (32:47):
Gosh. You know, my regrets tend to be around people at times, great people I wish I had done a better job of telling them how great they were. I've gotten much better on that, I think later in my career. And then also, you know, having... I think one of my regrets is not having the hard conversations sooner at times when I needed to, if people weren't performing or weren't meeting expectations. How to do that in a really human, kind way, I think, is hard and there are times that I wish I had done that earlier. I don't have a lot of regrets along the way. I mean, I didn't have any expectations for my career, to be honest. And so, as long as I'm doing what I'm really enjoying, which is I've been lucky enough to do for most of my career, it's, you know, all chugging forward, chugging along.
Charles (33:55):
That hard conversation piece is a theme that I hear a lot from—
Morgan Flatley (34:01):
Yeah.
Charles (34:02):
...both on the podcast and in my work. How have you evolved your understanding or your feeling about it?
Morgan Flatley (34:08):
I've realized that it's much easier, in the long run, it's much easier to have the hard conversations early. And to be as, I won't say direct, because it's actually, it's more... Just to continue to have them and be really open about it. And I've learned... We talked here about care and candor. So I try to think about that before I need to have hard coaching conversations, you know, how to do it in a really caring but also candid way. And the other piece is I try to think about it from the other person's side and how they would want to have that conversation. And so that helps me get out of my own head and my own anxiety about it to think about the value in having those caring and candid conversations with people for their career. But this has definitely been a journey for me. So I won't say I'm at the pinnacle of it. I'm still working on this one.
Charles (35:22):
Yeah, I think it is really challenging for almost everybody. And I think what I've seen a lot is that, for the recipient, if, as you've said, the conversation is respectful and sensitive, they will often look back on it as having been a pivotal moment in their life and their career because somebody was willing to tell them the truth and say, this isn't really working.
Morgan Flatley (35:42):
Yeah.
Charles (35:42):
And inevitably, they also know that, they know it's not working. They have that feeling. And I think what I found is it gives them freedom, agency, if you will, to chart a different direction in their life, and what's more valuable than that, ultimately.
Morgan Flatley (35:56):
Yeah. That's what I do. I do often really tell myself, myself before I need to have those conversations, just the important of that agency for people.
Charles (36:11):
How do you lead?
Morgan Flatley (36:15):
I think I... I get really clear on what the goal is. So, you know, even talking about in the beginning, like understanding what is our goal, what is our aspiration, what's our rallying cry for a project or a team. And then, I try and put together a pretty interesting, diverse team that, that solves around the table. So, like, one of my big things that I tend to say to my leadership team is, I learn through the discussion and the debate. And so… and it's maybe been a little bit of a theme. I rarely come into a work session or a meeting knowing what I think the outcome is. I come in with a bunch of questions and then, through the multiple points of view in the room and the debate, I really value the debate around the table. It helps me learn and help the team get to outcomes and decisions.
So, I've often said to my teams, I make decisions through us having the debate together. So I think, for me, leadership is clear vision for where we're going, getting the right people around the table, and then creating the environment where you can have that, like, healthy debate to get to the best outcomes.
And then having some fun. I mean, I like to have some fun along the way, too. I think we forget that in work. It's, I don't know, through COVID, we forgot a little bit about making sure this is fun.
Charles (37:52):
Are there things you do to promote that, to remind people of that, to give permission for that?
Morgan Flatley (38:00):
I think I try to model it with my leadership team. So, you know, we'll get together for a day or two off-site and make sure we're doing some fun activities, whether it be dinner or sometimes we'll do some prize, going back to my sports roots, but some sort of sporting event or some sort of competition. But I have gotten to where I'm trying to model some of that with the leadership team, that it's not just business and then pack up and go home, but that we get to know each other— I guess it's getting to know each other as people, as real people, as humans, as you said, that I think is part of my leadership style and, and building in the fun.
Charles (38:44):
As you look at the future, what are you afraid of?
Morgan Flatley (38:49):
I'm really worried about the world my kids are going to be in, you know, 15, 20 years. I mean, I have a 12, 11, and 7. I'm just worried about the world that they're in and they're going to be adults in. I don't know how to change it, but that worries me more and more today.
And then with work, like, I actually... I'm so optimistic about the team here and the brand and where we're going, but I do think the marketing world is on this crazy pace of change right now and, and how we're getting ourselves ready for it. So I'm really optimistic about where we are today, but I'm trying to get my eye on, okay, what is it going to look like in three or four or five years? And I feel like part of my job, with my team, is how do we future-proof this strong marketing organization that we have today for that future? And so I am worried about how quickly change is happening in the marketing space and, how we future-proof our teams for it. That's a little bit of what's keeping me up at night outside of my family, my kids.
Charles (40:10):
There is actually one other question I want to ask you. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this. As you look at the evolving nature of the world, where do you think AI fits in? How do you look at AI?
Morgan Flatley (40:22):
What's funny, when you asked what I'm worried about, I was going to just say AI. (laughs) But I decided to be a little bit more discreet. That was the first thing that popped into my head. I mean, I'm... Look, I'm not nearly smart enough on this yet, and I'm going to be doing a lot to get smart on it. We had a big session with the CMOs who were in Chicago a couple weeks ago on it. And there are pieces that I'm so excited about. I actually think it is going to help us unlock creativity at scale, in ways that we could have never imagined. And so, I don't actually see it replacing creativity at all. I think that would be a huge miss if people started to say that. But I see it unlocking creativity in an entirely different way.
And so, at McDonald's, when I think about, you know, 40,000 restaurants around the world, and all the consumers we touch, and how could AI help us take amazing, creative ideas and start to translate it across different assets in different countries in ways that we just haven't been able to do before because it's been way too complicated and cost prohibitive. I think about how it could help us change how we prototype even early stages, ideas, to help us get through rapid prototyping to get to actual versions that go out in the world. So I get really excited about how it could help us scale creativity and innovation in an entirely new way.
And then I get scared to death about what it could mean in terms of that or that, I mean, just what it could mean on the negative side. But, you know, as I said in the session that we had a few, a few weeks ago, I asked the guys who were there how they stay optimistic about it, and it was interesting, one of them talked about there have been a number of different technologies that have entered the world over the years and with lots of potential downside, but humans tend to, I think, rise to the positive outcomes. So I'm trying to stay really optimistic about what it can help us just achieve in new ways.
Charles (42:46):
I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. I begin every episode by declaring that I believe leadership sits at the intersection of strategy and humanity. And I really can't think of a better example of that than this conversation and the way that you lead. So I really want to thank you for coming on and sharing so fully.
Morgan Flatley (43:06):
Thank you, Charles. It was really fun for me. It got me thinking about a bunch of things. So thank you so much.
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