Jackie Trujillo knows one thing for sure, and that's how to do chicken right, or at least how to manage fried-chicken restaurants.
Trujillo, president of Harman Management's 240 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets, says the secret to any business success is building and keeping a team."You will be successful if you help others below you be successful," she said in a speech at Brigham Young University on Tuesday.
As part of the Marriott School of Management's Entrepreneur Lecture Series, she suggested that a student interested in becoming an entrepreneur will be successful only if he is a good coach, offer employees challenges to help them grow and is available when they need them.
A good boss talks to employees often, gets their feelings on decisions, has meetings to get them involved, lets them use their own styles of management and visits them in their own environment.
He also offers suggestions if needed, encourages employees and recognizes the positive, gets close to his employees, does fun things with them and is a good listener.
Other suggestions were to know employee needs, give them ownership of things they control, have a system of measurements, let them know what is expected, be consistent in management style and relationship, and reward and recognize the best.
Trujillo, a Harman employee since 1953, when she started as a car hop, said, "You have an opportunity to go as far as you want in life. You are the one who decides that, and then you go get it."
In a short time she was promoted to assistant manager and then manager because "I wanted to learn new things and as much as I could. If I wasn't busy in one job, I would help someone else."
Trujillo soon became training manager for Harman's and helped formulate the first training program for the firm, later adopted by Kentucky Fried Chicken National.
"Opportunities came for me, and I took them. By learning more and knowing more, when an opportunity comes you get the first chance because you are the one most ready for that."
A person who wants to start his own business must be a good manager and have a good team to be successful, she said.
"Your team will be no better than you are. You want people who can get results, are good to work with and bring others along with them. That's what you look for in choosing team members."