Reading Reflection 1

You read about an entrepreneur:

I read about Ray Kroc, the man who grew the McDonald’s brand to where it is today.

What surprised you the most?

It was most surprising to me that Ray Kroc was already 52 years old when he first started growing the McDonald’s franchise. It seems to me that successful entrepreneur’s usually start their business journey at a much younger age. In the book, he writes about how at the age of 52 he had diabetes, arthritis, had lost his gall bladder and most of his thyroid gland, yet he was still convinced that the best was yet to come. I found this to be surprising yet inspiring.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?

I admired the fact that he took risks during a time when many people believed opportunity was dead in the United States. The McDonald’s brothers weren’t interested in growing the company themselves, so Kroc took over and transformed their local business into one of the largest franchises in the world. He knew that if he put in the hard work he would be rewarded, which he did and he was. Of course, luck helps, as well as being in the right place at the right time, but the number one element to this success story was his work ethic, an admirable trait.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?

I least admired the way he treated the original McDonald’s brothers, who had a local restaurant “The Big M” that they weren’t interested in expanding. They sold out the company and McDonald’s name to Kroc. It seems that Kroc didn’t respect the brothers since they didn’t have the same big vision as he did; they were happy with what they had. He eventually ran the McDonald’s brothers out of their local business when he opened a McDonald’s right across them, and his response was, “I can’t feel charitable or forgiving toward the McDonald’s brothers”. Kind of a jerk move.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?

Kroc encountered a challenge when trying to make the perfect fry for his first McDonald’s location, following the directions given by the McDonald’s brothers themselves. He was extremely frustrated when he followed the directions step by step and yet couldn’t get the fries to taste the same. He eventually figured out that the problem was where he stored the potatoes; they needed to be dried of their moisture when stored. Kroc devised a curing system in order to do this. He then solved this issue and was able to make great tasting fries.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? 

He was an extremely hard worker his entire life, growing the McDonald’s business till the day he died, and the business continued to grow there-after. He also showed great leadership, revolutionizing an entire food industry all on his own. He sets an example for others that it doesn’t matter at what age you decide to start a business, you can be a teen, mid-thirties, or mid-fifties; anything is possible. He also has a passion for perfecting details which is what made him so successful.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.

It was confusing to me when Kroc talks about how an executive should be a person who “rarely makes mistakes”. I don’t completely agree with this idea. I feel that it is unavoidable to make mistakes; what is important is that you learn from these mistakes. He does, though, admit to some mistakes of his own, such as putting a pineapple slice on a bun.

 4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?

Did you have any doubts about starting up a franchise at the age of 52?

If there is anything you could’ve changed about your business ventures, what would it be?

I am curious to know if he had any doubts about starting a company that would be such a large commitment at that age, considering he had other health concerns to worry about and was probably slightly exhausted from all the other business ventures he had taken up in his life time. I also wonder if he made any mistakes during his business ventures that he had learned from and would prevent in the future.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?

I certainly believe that Kroc’s opinion of hard work was that it is completely necessary in order to be successful. The title of his book, “Grinding it out”, shares this opinion well. You have to grind it out and work hard in order to achieve the things you want to achieve. I completely agree with this opinion.