grounded in the business - University of Western Sydney

Grounded inthe businessHUNGRY JACK’S NEWLY APPOINTED AUSTRALIAN CEO IS UWS GRADUATEAARON MCKIE. HERE HE SHARES THE SECRET OF HIS REMARKABLE RISETHROUGH THE RANKS TO BURGER KING.Aaron McKie’s career at fast food retailerHungry Jack’s received a boost whenhe studied a Master of Commerce(Human Resource Management andIndustrial Relations) at UWS. Whenhe began this part-time degree,the busy father of three was a stateoperations manager for Hungry Jack’s,where he had worked for 16 years.Following his graduation in 2010, hewas appointed CEO earlier this year.Having been in his former role forfour years, Aaron was encouraged toreturn to study to open more doors inhis career by the Hungry Jack’s HRmanager, who was also a lecturer atUWS. By this time, he knew the HungryJack’s business ‘inside and out’ andwas able to devote some time to study.Aaron completed a Bachelor ofBusiness in property economics back in1996 (while working at Hungry Jack’s)following a four-year stint in the armyafter high school. He says returning toacademia after a long period away wasquite a culture shock for the 35-yearoldmature age student – ‘but onethat I relished and thoroughly enjoyedmore than I ever thought I would’.The support of his employer inprioritising his study in the contextof his busy life was also important.Aaron’s mentor encouraged himto put all distractions to the side ifhe had sat down to study – evenif a restaurant was on fire.‘[He said] everything else could bedelegated and someone else couldmanage short-term issues. So I reallytook from him, as a mentor late in hiscareer, that this was really importantand that from a company [point of]view, this was something that wasreally valuable. And because it tookpriority, that was how I approached it.’Having a Masters in HRM/IR (asopposed to an MBA) is probablyunique for someone in his position,says Aaron, and something thatis appealing to employers.‘For me, the program hasn’t beenjust about developing the numbers inHungry Jack’s, it’s about developingstaff leadership capabilities, and havinga qualification with a major in humanresources is definitely guiding the stepsthat I’m taking in the business.’With his new qualification andposition, Aaron says he now has thecapacity to move the business forwardinto growth opportunities that he hadidentified in the past, such as makingHungry Jack’s more convenient,delivering a better menu, and broadeningthe company’s customer base.Returning to university also gaveAaron the chance to interact withcolleagues from a diverse culturalbackground, and to be exposed todifferent industries and markets.‘Having the opportunity to associatewith international students brought out alot of different perspectives and points ofview that I didn’t have, so it really helpedme become a lot more commercial.’The conversations during breaks werealso a great source of information totake back into the workforce, he says.‘I’ve still got notes from the downtimeconversations. I’ve used some of thestudent’s ideas, especially with certainprograms within the business.’It was during this period thatAaron began formulating the HungryJack’s ‘school of excellence’ program(which launched in mid-October).At this stage the program enablessenior management and senior levelmanagers to do a two-year diplomacourse and through a consultingcompany, get some face to face, ‘reallife’commercial based learning.‘It’s a program that I spent a lot of timethinking about when I was at uni, so I’mreally happy to see that come to fruition.’Aaron says his studies at universityalso reinforced for him that he was onthe right path. Seeing that his approach– which had previously been instinctive– was in line with current businessstrategies and ‘new age’ managementmethods also provided confirmationthat he was on the right track.‘I always knew I had the capacityand the skill but it was good to align itthrough the academic work I was doing.It was quite reassuring on a weekly basisto know that what I was doing was right.’Aaron says having lecturers withreal-world experiences that wereeasy to relate to on a businessand personal level was important.Inspiration also came from studyinga culmination of diverse subjects thatinterlinked across the two years.‘Putting all that together andusing that information as a wholewas the key benefit for me.’What has been particularly helpfulfrom his studies at UWS are practicesaround Human Resource Managementsuch as engaging the workforce,understanding wellbeing programs,understanding the psyche of people– what they respond to and what theydon’t – and how to manage a largegeographical area with local issues.In his everyday working life, Aaronsays one of the big things for himis having a sign in his office thatasks, ‘What am I doing today tomake my manager’s job easier’.‘I guess coming through theranks makes me quite unique withinHungry Jack’s and my owner says4 GradLife November 2011