Reading Len Roberts’ 506-page memoir, “Leading with Vision and Heart,” is like traveling alongside Len for some of the most pivotal moments in his life.
The book is a legacy document for anyone who is interested in valuable nuggets of leadership, particularly when facing contrary voices in the C-suite.
I caught up with him recently while he was taking a break from hiking trails in North Carolina and he told me he wrote the book so others could benefit from the lessons he’s learned about ethical leadership. The project flowed from decades of compiling notes as he lived countless impactful moments.
In Fort Worth and around North Texas, Roberts is best known as the retired CEO of RadioShack and a tireless community volunteer who led RadioShack to be a major supporter of the United Way of Tarrant County. But some may not be aware that he also chaired Texas Health Resources and served on the TCU Board of Trustees as well as the Executive Board of the Fort Worth Symphony.
Oh yes, and Len also chaired the United Way… of AMERICA!
A quick tour of his memoir revealed this is not the traditional reflection of a career filled solely with the author’s achievements. I discovered that he:
- devotes four pages to what he calls “Len-isms” – pearls of wisdom he collected from others and implemented himself. My favorite: “Buttons are popping,” which means he is proud of one of his grandkids. The next best one is: “If you’re on time, you’re late!”
- devotes a chapter to the “Love of Animals: A Family Affair” – a section all about the Roberts family’s love for cats and dogs through the years and the amazing bonds and experiences they have shared.
- thanks his invaluable and committed executive assistants from throughout the years at Ralston Purina, Arby’s, Shoney’s, and RadioShack. Talk about loyalty and devotion to a boss: One executive assistant followed him from Ralston Purina to Arby’s and another one followed him from Arby’s to Shoney’s!
Len devotes an entire chapter to his very close and personal relationship with baseball legend Hank Aaron. And another chapter recounts the riveting and emotional story about how he and his family dealt with a horrific tragedy when his daughter, while walking, was struck down by a drunk driver.
When you open the book, you will feel you are starting a workout – it weighs over three pounds, and it features impressive, coated paper and over 200 photographs of family from all ages plus snapshots of the massive media coverage of his career in the business world. Len invites us into his world when he was growing up as a young boy whose family immersed him in the Jewish faith. He shares insights on being bullied as a young boy until he decided to toughen himself up. The strong moral compass his parents instilled in him allowed Len to discern right from wrong and create the path to his rise to the top.
The lessons he learned along the way helped him decide to stand up for himself. The confidence he developed doing this led him to become a Patrol Boy during middle school and the Captain of the Patrol Boys in eighth grade – his first leadership position.
Later on, Len’s commitment to choosing right over wrong helped him stand up in the fights against the corrupt titans of the restaurant industry.
Len always felt his family struggled. Having seven mouths to feed – his parents and four siblings plus Len – was expensive, and so the family lived frugally.
When his father died in 1985, Len was shocked to learn that his dad left $50,000 in cash in a bank lockbox. He wrote: “It teared me up – this sense that he planned for the future and to take care of his wife and children who he loved. That taught me responsibility for the family.”
And there’s much, much more.
The Love Story
Len reflects on the romance with the love of his life, Laurie, whom he met in high school and married. The book carries portions of their love notes to each other, as well as details of their dating, early years of marriage, and their appreciation for family travel.
Second Love Story: Ralston Purina
Len had always heard the key to success was: Do not just find a job; find a career. He viewed life differently with this mindset: Just find a job with a decent company or solid people, and then excel and make it your career.
His first job was at Central Soya while a high school senior, and then at Armour Foods during college at the University of Illinois. By 19, he was a world-renowned food scientist. He enjoyed the field, but he really wanted to study criminal law and enter the FBI.
However, while working in the food industry, he fell in love with the frozen food division at Ralston Purina. For Len, it was a fascinating operation that was dramatically turned around with his leadership.
Yet, that was not enough of a challenge for Len Roberts to continue as a manager but not an owner.
Recognizing an opportunity, he tried to buy the frozen food division but, in a quirk of fate, lost the bidding war to Fort Worth-based Standard Meats and Manny Rosenthal.
Seeking change at 34, Len was invited to a dinner with three major Arby’s franchisees. From their conversation, he gleaned that the company had failing business systems and was falling apart from poor management.
He recognized an opportunity. He saw an exciting challenge!
Fighting the Good Fight
Arby’s was the ideal job for a young turnaround artist, so Len immediately took the position of President/CEO in 1985. He constantly fought Chairman of the Board Victor Posner, who had not fully disclosed the shape of the company, and who resisted Len’s initiatives to keep the franchisees better informed of the company’s direction and thus grow the enterprise.
Since one of his key initiatives at Arby’s would be to create market differentiation, Len sought something that would distinguish Arby’s.
The brand was already the premier sliced beef seller and he resisted the temptation to become just another burger purveyor along with McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and others.
He searched across America and even internationally for that distinguishing factor, and he discovered it while eating at a Greek restaurant that sold gyro sandwiches: a spicy, round, corkscrew-shaped French fry. The tasty treat was curly, so he called it the Curly Fry and trademarked the name.
More on the Curly Fries in a moment.
Protecting the Arby’s Brand
My favorite story about his Arby’s tenure starts on page 109, where Len recounts that he felt a need to make surprise visits to Arby’s stores. He shared that the restaurants were often less than clean, and his surprise appearances led to much-needed change.
He visited one Arby’s store in Florida and complained to the manager that the store was so dirty that he would close it down due to hygiene issues. The manager put the franchisee on the phone and the franchisee responded by boasting that the franchise agreement did not allow Len, as president of the company, to close the restaurant.
Ever the innovative solution provider, Len drove to the local Board of Health, where he introduced himself as president of Arby’s and asked the health inspector to close the offending restaurant. In the words of the inspector: “No one has ever asked us to close their own restaurant for hygiene reasons!”
Len wrote, “The franchise owner was right. I DIDN’T have the right to close a franchisee store, but the health department did!”
As the word spread from that incident, Arby’s operators nationwide literally “cleaned up their act” as Len continued to conduct surprise visits at locations across the nation.
Six-Point Plan
Too many memoirs simply glorify the author, without sharing much meat. Not so with Len Roberts. He gives insights on his Six-Point Plan that led to the success of Arby’s:
- Open lines of communication – He removed the barriers and hierarchy so communications could flow freely among all levels and departments among each other and with the restaurant operators.
- Identify people’s strengths – He emphasized Arby’s would seek to learn about each team member’s best attributes and build support around them.
- Build a winning spirit – He created team-attainable progress goals and charted (and celebrated) progress.
- Reward the dreamers and risk-takers – He encouraged risk-takers for their emotion, passion, and speed, even when their actions did not achieve the anticipated results.
- Build an Arby’s “service culture” – He emphasized that hospitality should be a priority, so customers always felt welcome as if they were entering a friend’s home – he even installed a wall-mounted bell inside each restaurant so customers could “ring the bell” on their way out to express their complete satisfaction.
- Create market differentiation – Establish something unique that customers crave, which led to the world-renowned Curly Fries!
Len went toe to toe with Victor Posner in such a public battle that it was carried on the front cover of Restaurants & Institutions, Restaurant News, The Wall Street Journal, and Forbes Magazine.
By the time he departed Arby’s in 1989, sales and profits had increased more than 50% and the company had blossomed by 900 additional locations for a total of over 3,200 restaurants. Len left Arby’s in far better shape than when he found it.
From Curly Fries to Sundaes and Burgers
Roberts moved from sliced beef and Curly Fries to full-service restaurants in 1989 at Nashville-based Shoney’s, which was the second-largest restaurant chain in the nation at that time with 1,800 locations.
The challenge for this brand to overcome was the racism the ownership had allowed by mistreating minority employees and quashing their opportunities for advancement.
Len brought the issues to the forefront of the discussion and once again found himself on the front pages of publications throughout the food industry as he pushed to create advancement opportunities for those who had been overlooked.
Shoney’s was an insider-bred company whose leadership had been impressed with Roberts’ dramatic achievements at Arby’s. However, the continual turmoil within the executive offices at Shoney’s led Len to resign in 1992.
Moving from Food to Electronics: RadioShack CEO
Len was recruited to become president of RadioShack in 1993 and added the CEO title in 1998, serving until 2005. During those dozen years, he is credited with revitalizing RadioShack by adding high-profile brands like Microsoft, Compaq, and RCA and showcasing them within vendor-supplied kiosks and displays.
His leadership mobilized RadioShack to capture a lion’s share of the rapidly growing cellular phone market. He grew the store count to 7,400 locations at its zenith before retiring.
When Len joined RadioShack in 1993, it had a market cap of $1.8 billion. Fast forward to 1998, when RadioShack became one of the fastest appreciating stocks on the New York Stock Exchange as the market cap exceeded $9.0 billion – a five-fold increase.
“Moment with the Big Boys”
One of Roberts’ highlight moments as CEO of RadioShack referenced his time at Arby’s. He was standing on stage during the massive Consumer Electronics Show in 1994 – the largest convention held annually in Las Vegas.
“I was on the stage with Bill Gates (now the sixth richest man in America and at one time one of the top two) from Microsoft, and Steve Jobs from Apple. Andy Grove from Intel, Steve Case from AOL, and Larry Ellison (now the third richest person in America) from Oracle,” he recalled. “Each of us was asked to say, in a single sentence, what we had done to benefit the human race.
“Bill Gates said that Microsoft had developed the language for computers, and he received soft courtesy applause, much like you hear on a golf course during a tournament.
“Steve Jobs stated that Apple made computing less complicated and easier for individuals to use. Again, there was a polite golf clap.
“Next came Andy Grove talking about the invention of the microchip, and then Steve Case talking about the invention of communicating on the internet, and Larry Ellison from Oracle, sharing that his company helped the computers communicate with one another.”
More polite applause. Golf claps.
“So, there I am – the RadioShack CEO. I have nothing to share on the level of innovation as these luminaries, and I was batting last. I don’t know what made me say it, but I smiled and said, ‘I used to be the CEO of Arby’s, and I brought Curly Fries to America!’”
Standing ovation!!!
There’s another Bill Gates story Len recounts that you need to read in the book or hear in the audiobook. It relates to the unique honor that Len presented to Bill that meant so much to him that the award remains in the most prominent position in his entire home.
And one more thing: Curly Fries are a national treasure, and we have Len Roberts to thank for that gift to America, along with the wisdom and inspiration he shares in his new book, “Leading with Vision and Heart.”
John Fletcher is CEO/Founder of Fletcher Consulting Public Relations in Arlington, where he emphasizes the value of developing strong personal and business relationships. Contact him at john@thefletch.org