do; and having the ability to sidestep pitfalls that disguise themselves as solutions.
Written at a time that was rife with change at every level—often coming at breakneck pace—this book will not only recall a number of bonehead decisions I made (and there were quite a few of them), but also summon a recollection of some of the people I met and the lessons I learned, both good and bad.
This book is the story of my life, both its successes and failures in business and personally. How did I embrace innovation and change? How did I recognize the opportunity to grow the glimmer of an idea into one of the most widely recognized and trusted brands in the world?
My success with Burger King was unique in that I succeeded where others failed. Many of us jumped into the new market of fast-food restaurants, but only a few of us made it out in one piece. I locate most of the keys to my success in working hard and partnering with the right people, particularly Dave Edgerton and the incredible franchisees that helped Burger King grow so quickly. I hope in writing this that others can learn from my mistakes and triumphs to succeed in their own endeavors.
Jim McLamore, 1996
Jim McLamore with his siblings: Claire and David
What are the major factors in determining a person’s character, attitude, behavior, and sense of values? It is a question that begs an answer, but in my judgment, it suggests that a child’s early development has a lot to do with it. I would venture to say that personality traits are rather well established long before a child becomes a teenager. Childhood is a time in life when priorities become established, values are determined, and a person’s mindset is created. By the time I was ten years old, I had developed a fair sense of the things I thought were important, including my family. I was guided by their influence and what they taught me.
I came to understand the importance of parental love and guidance at an early age, having lost my mother at age three and my father at twenty-one. The years spent with my family shaped so many parts of me and instilled a sense of purpose in my life. This is not to suggest that it saved me from making a lot of dumb mistakes later on—many of them during my business career.
I was born in 1926, in New York City. My father, Thomas Milton McLamore, was born on July 5, 1889, in Texas and came from a poor family, which ultimately settled in Louisiana. I don’t really remember much of my mother. She was born Marian Floyd Whitman and, as an only child, led a comfortable life. She met my father, a handsome lieutenant in the US Army, who had recently returned from service in France. Falling in love after meeting her, he soon proposed, and they married on April 30, 1923.
Economic times in the United States just prior to 1926 were very good. The country was growing rapidly, and the Whitman family business was successful, enabling the family to live in style. Grandfather Whitman had bought Edgehill, the family farm in Central Valley, New York, and it became an important focus of life for the Whitman family.
After I was born, Mother and Father bought a home and moved to Montclair, New Jersey, within easy commuting distance of New York City. My sister, Claire, arrived on February 3, 1924. I arrived on May 30, 1926, and my brother David on February 18, 1928. The family lived in the Montclair residence until a deepening national economic crisis developed, which culminated in the stock market crash in October of 1929. This event virtually wiped out the family fortune and drastically changed the lifestyle of my parents, maternal grandparents, and many Americans alike. Within a few weeks, stock prices plunged over 40 percent and led to the Great Depression, the worst economic disaster in the nation’s history.
James Spurr Whitman, my grandfather, died in that frantic year of 1929 at seventy-six years old. I feel certain that the crash of 1929 was largely responsible for his death, inasmuch as the family fortune had simply evaporated. The realization of this loss must have been devastating to him.
In short order, the family sold the New York City townhouse and the home in Montclair and moved to Edgehill. The shock of the Depression and the loss of the family wealth had a terrible effect on Mother; she was committed to a sanitarium shortly after my brother David was born. I never saw her again and she died in 1933. The Whitman wealth was gone, and my father lost his job in New York City as the Depression deepened. Times were grim.
I became deeply attached to Edgehill, the only home I knew as a young boy. But during the summer of 1933, there was a fire in the hay stores, and while the livestock was saved, Edgehill as a working farm was no more. What the fire did not finish, the rising tide of the Depression did.
In order to make ends meet, Grandmother began to sell her most prized possessions, which included her silverware, china, furniture, and jewelry. She was also forced to sell about half of the two hundred-acre Edgehill farm to the Cornell family. Even as a little boy, it was evident at the time that things were changing. Through it all, Grandmother was a tower of strength. She never let on that these were stressful times for her or that she was worried about holding the family together.
This lovable grandmother of mine took every blow in stride with a fierce determination to see the family through. In 1929, she was sixty-five years old. Her doctors had warned her she had a weak heart and should be careful about overexerting herself. Dad’s job at the bank required him to take a train to New York every Sunday night and return after work on Fridays. This meant that Grandmother had to play the role of mother and part-time father; she played it beautifully.
My education began in September of 1931, a few months after my fifth birthday. Throughout my schooling, I was assigned to classes where students were a year or more older than I was. I wanted to be the best student or the best athlete in the class, and the challenge was heightened by the disparity of our age differences as the gap remained throughout my education.
During my eight years in Central Valley’s public school I gained some experience in public speaking at township events and various student gatherings. On one occasion I delivered the oration “O’ Captain, My Captain” at the public gazebo in town. I was plenty nervous, but I had memorized the poem well enough to recite it. I think I was eleven years old at the time, but I remember the occasion. I came to understand then that public speaking is a talent which encourages the development of other communication skills. This is of considerable value to people hoping to succeed in the world of business.
Looking back, I developed an urgent sense of wanting to be successful in life. I had no idea what that would involve, of course, but I had no shortage of ambition. I felt pretty good about my chances for success. I had an instinctive liking for people, and I wanted people to like me in return, being gregarious and outgoing and always reaching out to people to make friends. I also had a strong competitive drive. I wanted not only to be a good student, but also to excel in athletics. I thought winning was important. I didn’t play in organized sporting events just to be a participant. What was important was winning the game or being on the winning team.
Around this time, Grandmother was insistent that her three grandchildren should receive as fine an education as possible. She wanted us to go to high school somewhere other than in Central Valley and began looking for a boarding school that could provide each of us with a springboard to a college education. In 1937, she found the perfect answer. She determined that Claire would go to the Northfield Seminary in Massachusetts, the sister school of the Mount Hermon School for Boys, which is where I was to be sent two years later. Grandmother then began to sell her personal assets to obtain the necessary funds for our education.
Tragedy struck when Grandmother suffered a severe heart attack and died in 1938. It was a terrible blow to all of us, but to me at eleven years old, it was absolutely shattering. Now, with only Dad left, I knew that I would be required, more and more to rely on myself. I learned confidence is born of integrity and fair dealing and is the reward for honesty and performance.
Being a former teacher, high school principal, and college graduate,