Five vital signs for scaling your big idea
Back in the mid-90s, McDonald's had a problem. Competitors were eating into their sales, and they were struggling to reach adults. Their solution: a new burger named the Arch Deluxe, which they spent hundreds of millions of dollars marketing to grown ups. That burger, however, has gone down in history as one of the biggest product flops ever. But did it have to turn out that way?
The University of Chicago economist John List says McDonald's decision to roll out the Arch Deluxe on a large scale, or "scale" the burger, was based on flawed decision-making. He has a new book out called The Voltage Effect, which seeks to help organizations create a more successful approach to scaling. Today, he joins the show to explain why some ideas, products, and policies scale, and others don't.
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