Writing / Topic

Run The Region

Run The RegionRunning Multiple Brand Portfolios From One Regional SeatWhen a regional director inherits two or three different brands under the same reporting line, the job stops being multi-unit and becomes multi-model. Here is what actually changes in the calendar, the P&L, and the coaching work.
Run The RegionCross-Market Labor Arbitrage : What Works, What BackfiresMoving labor between markets sounds smart until you try it. What works: traveling trainers, opening teams, catering ops, corporate fill-ins. What backfires: borrowing hourly staff between markets to paper over a scheduling problem.
Run The RegionWhen Your Direct Reports Do Not ScaleSome general managers who thrive at one unit stall when the region grows past ten. A regional director's field playbook for recognizing the ceiling, extending the runway, and moving on when the ceiling holds.
Run The RegionDistrict Manager Versus Regional Director: What Actually ChangesThe move from district manager to regional director is a zoom-level shift more than a skill shift. What changes about the calendar, vocabulary, metrics, and peers. When to stay a district manager. When you are ready to promote. Why the identity shift is harder than the skill shift.
Run The RegionField Visits That Change Something Versus Field Visits That PerformTwo kinds of restaurant field visits. The performance visit where everyone lines up and nothing changes. The substantive visit that leaves the general manager clearer than when you arrived. What to look at, what not to fix, and the coaching moves that matter.
Run The RegionYour First 90 Days as a Regional DirectorThe 90-day playbook for taking over a healthy or drifting multi-unit region. Not a turnaround. Diagnose in month one, install cadence in month two, run first monthly review and draft the 2-deep chart in month three.
Run The RegionHandling a General Manager ResignationA general manager just quit. The next 72 hours will define whether the unit survives the transition and whether the rest of the region trusts how you handled it. A regional director's field playbook.
Run The RegionMarket-Level Succession Planning Nobody Writes DownThe multi-unit operator's playbook for market-level succession planning. The 2-deep chart per seat, what ready-now actually means, development plans that get done, and protecting the bench during fast growth.
Run The RegionMentoring 21 General Managers Without Micromanaging AnyHow to coach 21 general managers at scale without becoming the second GM of any single unit. The weekly rhythm, monthly review, quarterly development conversation, and the coaching moves that actually scale across a region.
Run The RegionThe Mid-Year Regional Strategy ResetBy June, most regional plans have drifted or broken quietly. A working mid-year strategy reset that gives the second half of the year a real chance instead of pretending January's plan still applies.
Run The RegionMulti-State Regulatory Compliance Without FinesHow to run labor, health, and food safety compliance across six states as a regional operator. State-by-state labor law differences, health inspection prep, the compliance calendar, and the cost of one fine versus the cost of the system.
Run The RegionPromoting a First-Time District ManagerSelection criteria, common mistakes, and the first 90-day plan for a first-time district manager. Why the best GM is rarely the best DM, and how to coach the coach.
Run The RegionHow Brand Standards Drift Across a Region, and How to Catch ItBrand standards decay silently, unit by unit, until the region no longer looks like one brand. How drift starts, how to detect it early, and how to reset the standard without punishing your general managers.
Run The RegionThe Regional Communications Rhythm That Prevents SurprisesMost bad news in a multi-unit region reaches the regional director too late to matter. A working weekly, monthly, and quarterly communications rhythm that turns surprises into signals a full month earlier.
Run The RegionThe Regional KPI Dashboard People Actually ReadDesign principles for a regional dashboard general managers open every morning. Fewer metrics. Unit-ranked. Phone-first. Updated daily. What to include, what to leave out, and what makes a metric operator-owned.
Run The RegionThe Regional Operating Review Agenda in 45 MinutesThe monthly regional operating review most multi-unit groups run wastes 90 minutes and produces nothing. Here is the 45-minute standing agenda that actually moves the number, minute by minute.
Run The RegionThe Regional Operating Rhythm That Actually WorksA weekly, monthly, and quarterly regional operating rhythm that holds gains across a multi-unit region. What goes in each meeting, who owns it, and why cadence beats charisma.
Run The RegionThe Regional P&L Quarterly Review That Sets the YearHow to run the regional P&L quarterly review that sets the trajectory for the year. Three-slide structure: where we are, what we are betting, what we need. Preparation, run of show, and follow through.
Run The RegionSitting the Regional Seat: What the Job Looks Like on Monday MorningAn hour by hour walk through a real Monday for a regional director. Weekend flash, variance email, general manager one-on-ones, numbers block, field visit prep, catering client call. What the job actually is on the day it starts.
Run The RegionRegional Director Versus Area DirectorThe regional director and area director roles overlap by design and clash by default. A field guide to what each seat actually owns, where the friction is real, and how to run both without losing the region.
Run The RegionThe Regional Versus Corporate Tension and How to Sit In ItThe regional director is the diaphragm between corporate policy and field reality. When to push back on corporate. When to defend corporate. When to escalate. The specific job of sitting in the middle, and the times I picked the wrong side.
Run The RegionThe Remote-First Multi-Unit Operating ModelMulti-unit operations built to run without a physically present regional director in every unit every week. What the model looks like, what changes in how you hire, and where it breaks if you copy it from a corporate playbook.
Run The RegionRunning Multi-Unit Operations When You Cannot Be OnsiteThe remote-first playbook for multi-unit restaurant operations. Video walks, live camera checks, morning standup by phone. What you lose remote, what you gain, and when you still need to fly in.
Run The RegionWhat to Bring When You Sit With Senior Leadership QuarterlyThe three-slide rule for the quarterly regional review with the C-suite. What senior leaders actually want, what they don't, how to handle hard questions, and the 48-hour recap.
Run The RegionSpan of Control: How Many Units Can One Leader Really RunThe healthy span of control for a multi-unit leader is 8 to 12 direct-report general managers. What breaks past that, when to add a district layer, and how to know your real number.
Run The RegionBuilding the Standing Agenda That Runs ItselfWhat makes a weekly agenda survive a leader vacation. Template design, ownership rotation, decision-log discipline, and the honest history of how many times a working agenda has to be rebuilt.
Run The RegionTravel Cadence Across the Region Without Burning OutHow a multi-state regional director actually plans travel across six states and twenty-plus units without losing weekends, missing operating rhythm, or burning the family calendar. A working system, not a productivity theory.
Run The RegionWhy Twenty Units Is a Different Job Than OneRunning twenty locations is not running one location twenty times. It is a different job. Here is what changes about the work, the numbers, and the operator when the unit count crosses ten.
Run The RegionThe Virtual Town Hall That Actually WorksMost virtual town halls are 60 minutes of one-way broadcast that nobody remembers by Friday. Here is the format that actually produces alignment across a distributed multi-unit region, and the traps that make most of them worthless.
Run The RegionRunning a Weekly Cadence Across Six StatesA practical playbook for running a weekly operating cadence across six states and 21 units. Travel logic, video vs onsite mix, async dashboards, and the time-zone Tetris of one standing meeting. (From my earlier Hana Group scope.)