From Headsets to Headquarters: Former KFC COO Monica Rothgery on Leadership, Joy, and Doing What’s Yours to Do

Well, if you fast forward kind of into that corporate role, I know I've heard, I love when you talk about just wearing that headset in the drive-thru, and that is such an awesome story.

But tell us some of those learnings about, you know, I don't want to steal your thunder, but you have a great story about wearing that headset.

And when things go awry, am I right, Monica, in the drive-thru? Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, when I retired, I decided I was going to write this book.

And I think the thing that makes Lessons from the Drive-Thru really unique is it's not a book by an executive for executives.

It's a book by an executive to frontline leaders.

And there just aren't that many books dedicated to helping and supporting frontline leaders.

And...

Unlike a lot of leadership books that talk about, you know, here's all the great things I did as a leader.

If you do the same things I did, you too will be successful.

My book talks about all the struggles and challenges I faced as a restaurant manager and the mistakes I made.

And I mean, I came into it thinking I was, you know, I was a big army officer.

How hard could it be to run a Taco Bell? And evidently

harder than you thought.

Much, much.

It was I say this all the time.

I mean, being in the army was hard at times, but running a Taco Bell or any restaurant, I think, was much, much more challenging, much more difficult.

You know, they told me that team members and soldiers are just alike at Taco Bell.

They were like, Monica, team members are.

are just like soldiers.

They're young, they're impressionable, they're ready to be led.

So I was really surprised when I got to my restaurant.

Team members, unlike soldiers, you know, don't show up.

They don't wear uniform correctly.

They don't know how to do their jobs.