Takeaway Time
AUTHOR: Jo Cooper DATE: 06.09.07 ISSUE 1, 2007
University days were pivotal for Peter Hearl, now a global leader in the fast-food sector.
Ironically, when he was growing up in suburban Sydney, Peter Hearl never ate takeaway food. “I grew up in fairly modest circumstances,” says Mr Hearl, now the global Chief Operating and Development Officer for Yum Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company with entities including KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
| "As a leader, if you can't teach something that can be institutionalised for use across an organisation, you have to question what value you’re adding," says Peter Hearl, Australian School of Business alumnus. |
Just as Australians were acquiring a taste for KFC in the late 1960s, Mr Hearl left behind his self-described “unruly” school days to become the first member of his family to attend university. The experience turned his life around.
“The thing I particularly liked about UNSW, is how it stimulated your senses and intellect,” he reflects, fondly recalling Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon walk viewed on a black-and-white television in The Roundhouse.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce in 1973, he joined oil giant Esso Australia, where he spent six years in financial planning, analytical and operating roles. “I’ve always had an interest in operations, retailing and the way things work,” Mr Hearl says. “The thing I loved about Esso was if you were good enough, it didn’t matter how old you were. They gave you increasingly higher levels of opportunity to prove yourself.”
When Esso divested its Australian marketing and refining activities in 1991, Mr Hearl declined an offer of a new role, and made a crucial career move to PepsiCo, a company whose assets then included KFC. He became Australian director of operations for KFC before moving to London in 1993 to run the fast-food giant's business in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Continental Europe and parts of Africa.
In his next role, as Regional Vice-President for Yum Brands in the Asia-Pacific, overseeing KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, Mr Hearl tackled the turmoil of the Asian financial crisis and seized the chance to strengthen the brand, courtesy of “a very strong value proposition”. “We took the crisis as an opportunity to show how much we wanted to bring people along with us.”
Now based in the US, he says driving the company's international expansion after the spin-off from PepsiCo 10 years ago has been a career highlight, while teaching and coaching up-and-comers in the organisation is an ongoing passion. “As a leader, if you can't teach something that can be institutionalised for use across an organisation, you have to question what value you’re adding.” The process also enables him to assess the calibre of rising stars at Yum Brands, many of whom are Australian expatriates.
Now 56, he’s lived in eight cities and 22 houses over 34 years, but has no retirement plans. Eventually, he says he’ll return to Australia to take up board roles – and to watch rugby in his spare time.