A reporter for Fortune magazine recently said that David Novak “may be the business world’s ultimate team builder.”56 Novak, chief executive officer of Yum! Brands, iscredited with delivering extraordinary growth and profits in the tough business of fast-food restaurants. Yum! Brands has built its trio of restaurant brands—KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell—into the world’s largest restaurant company measured in terms of number of locations. Novak says the company’s strength comes from the value it places on teamwork. He notes that, as a manager, he is driven to win, adding, “You can’t win without people.” In Novak’s experience, success requires a team effort. According to Novak, the origin of his focus on teams came when he was manager of bottling operations for PepsiCo, which then owned the restaurants that now make up Yum! Brands. Meeting with route salespeople, Novak asked a series of questions about their work, and the repeatedly pointed out one of their coworkers as the expert. The man was in tears, hearing for the first time, after decades of service, that he was so well respected. Novak determined that he would never let a person’s contributions go unrecognized.

1. Consider the salespeople David Novak managed for Pepsi Bottling. How would you decide whether to characterize these employees as a group or a team?

2. If you were in charge of managing a Yum! Brands restaurant division, how would you ensure that an effective team emerges? How would you help build trust among the employees who work together in your division?

3. What challenges do you think might exist in developing teamwork at franchise restaurants? How would you overcome those challenges?