As the co-founder and former CEO of Yum! Brands, one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with a portfolio including franchises like KFC and Pizza Hut, David Novak drove tangible results.

In the 17 years he was CEO, from 1999 to 2016, Novak helped scale the company to eight times its original size, from a market capitalization of $4 billion to $32 billion. However, Novak credits the numbers to a more qualitative than quantitative aspect of leadership — creating the right work culture.

In a conversation with Masters of Scale host Jeff Berman that aired earlier this month, Novak explained how he steered Yum! Brands from the beginning.

“I made my number one priority to really create a powerful culture where everyone counts,” Novak said. “That became job number one for me as a CEO, because if I can create that right work environment, people will innovate and people will go further.”

Novak explained that early on, he tried to learn from companies that were winning or consistently delivered good results. He went out and visited companies including Walmart, Home Depot, and General Electric.

“We met with them,” Novak said. “Then we came back and we codified what’s really driving the success of these companies that allow them to get to great results year after year.”

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Novak, who oversaw 1.5 million employees globally, began emphasizing recognition and encoding it into Yum!’s culture. In previous interviews, he talked about how he would use recognition to motivate employees. In one case, at KFC, Novak gave away rubber chickens and $100 as an award for a job well done.

Today, Yum!’s culture remains one of recognition and collaboration, per its public-facing culture page.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made a case — and a mandate — for in-office work on Monday.

In a publicly available message, Jassy said that Amazon’s 1.5 million-plus employees must return to the office five days per week starting January 2. Amazon is also bringing back desk assignments to the offices that had that structure pre-pandemic.

Jassy positioned the move as a better way to work and a return to life before Covid.

“We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another,” Jassy stated.

^{Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images}

Jassy also said that situations that require remote work like sickness, an emergency, or being on the road are still acceptable.

However, these examples of remote work are the exception to the new rule, not the norm.

Related: Here’s How Much Money U.S. Employees Will Sacrifice to Avoid Returning to the Office, According to a New Study

Amazon employees have been back in the office at least three days per week as of February 2023. A July report from Bamboo HR showed that one in four executives secretly hoped employees would quit over stricter return-to-office policies.

“Strengthening our culture remains a top priority for the s-team [senior leadership team] and me. And, I think about it all the time,” he wrote. “We want to operate like the world’s largest startup.”

Under the new policy, working from home two days per week is no more. The office culture is returning to how it was before the pandemic, to strengthen work culture and drive better results, Jassy explained.

Related: Dell Reportedly Told Remote Employees to Come Back to the Office or Forgo the Chance to Be Promoted

Amazon joins companies like Salesforce and Walmart that have implemented stricter return-to-work policies.

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