Archive for Items Categorized 'Avanti Magazine', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.
My dear grandmother would often say that children should be seen and not heard. Her generation believed that nothing valuable could be learned from what children thought or would say to their parents or other adults. Fortunately, at least in the child-rearing arena, this theory has been completely debunked. We now know that our […]
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” —George Bernard Shaw Recently, the franchisee community became aware of certain changes taking place in the top leadership positions at SEI corporate headquarters in Dallas. I am not a pessimist (perhaps a cynic at heart) but on this topic […]
Franchisees dread the “Ivory Tower” syndrome that seems to permeate 7-Eleven, Inc. (SEI). The latest example showing how removed corporate is from our store-level reality was the Thanksgiving Holiday McLane ordering and delivery schedule. SEI made the unilateral decision to have its franchise stores receive a single McLane delivery Thanksgiving week. This was communicated […]
As SEI rolls out the Hybrid Business Transformation model, with its consolidated beer and soda deliveries and McLane deliveries to stores all set on designated days, many questions continue to arise about this new distribution program. One of the questions we’ve always asked is, “Who is the customer when it comes to BT?” Is […]
Most franchisees are aware by now that the cost for contract maintenance from SEI and FM Facility Maintenance has escalated. Every store should have received a packet from FM showing the new pricing summaries for each piece of equipment in your store. In the packet, FM mentions their continuing efforts to remain transparent in […]
Among independent franchisee associations in the United States, the National Coalition stands out—not only because of its 41-year longevity, its remarkable accomplishments, and its role in safeguarding the rights of franchise owners—but also because of its open and democratic governance structure. The Declaration of Independence, executed on July 4, 1776, serves as the foundation […]
Opacity is defined as “the condition of lacking transparency or translucence, or obscurity of meaning.” If something is transparent, nothing is hidden from plain sight and everything is exposed—warts and all. If an object is opaque, then nothing inside is visible. During SEI’s recent CEO roundtable discussion in Dallas with various franchisees, our CEO […]
SEI has touted servant leadership as the organizational mantra for the past nine years. In the 1970s, Robert Greenleaf coined the term in his published essay “The Servant As Leader.” Since Greenleaf’s work was published, the topic of servant leadership has grown in popularity as a method for teaching management in the workplace. The […]
Since becoming chairman of the National Coalition, one of the issues that has been brought to my attention consistently has been the reclassification of 7-Eleven franchisee operating expenses. This was brought to SEI’s attention in February, and at our Portland Board meeting in May it became a bigger issue of concern with franchisees. During […]
On August 22, the National Coalition filed a revised complaint to SEI’s new Security System and Monitoring Amendment, which allows the company to remotely monitor our stores via the new DVR security surveillance system. The circumstances leading up to this moment began in 2012, when SEI first started rolling out the new security system. […]
