David Novak, the co-founder and former CEO of Yum! Brands, is known for driving tangible results through his leadership. During his 17-year tenure as CEO from 1999 to 2016, Novak played a pivotal role in scaling the company to eight times its original size, from a market capitalization of $4 billion to $32 billion. However, Novak attributes this success not only to numbers but also to the qualitative aspect of leadership — creating the right workplace culture.
In a recent conversation with Masters of Scale host Jeff Berman, Novak shared insights on how he navigated Yum! Brands from the beginning:
“I made it my top priority to create a powerful culture where every individual matters,” Novak said. “Building the right work environment became my primary focus as a CEO because when you create the right culture, people are empowered to innovate and go above and beyond.”
Novak emphasized the importance of learning from successful companies and understanding the key drivers behind their consistent results. He personally visited companies like Walmart, Home Depot, and General Electric to glean insights on their success strategies.
As a leader overseeing 1.5 million employees globally, Novak championed a culture of recognition within Yum! Brands. He would often use recognition as a tool to motivate employees, even going as far as giving away rubber chickens and monetary awards for outstanding performance, as exemplified by a case at KFC.
Today, Yum!’s culture continues to revolve around recognition and collaboration, as showcased on its public-facing culture page.