Reading Reflection No. 1 - 13A

Grinding it Out - Ray Kroc

For this reading reflection, I chose the autobiography of Ray Kroc, “Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald’s”.

1) You read about an entrepreneur:

What surprised you the most? I was initially taken aback by the fact that Ray Kroc was not the founder of the first original “McDonald’s”. He managed all the franchise locations for the McDonald’s brothers, Mac and Dick.

What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I admired his honesty. He could have easily copied the McDonald’s brother’s idea, since they had no interest or desire in franchising their business. He could have avoided legality issues down the line but instead he wasn’t greedy. He saw the opportunity from a sales perspective and capitalized immensely.

What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? What I least admired was his tone in the way he spoke of the McDonald’s brothers. There are always 3 sides to every story. In his autobiography, we only heard his and of course he can speak on the matter in order to put himself in the best light. He made is seem like the McDonald’s brothers were conniving and incompetent.

Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? Yes, Ray Kroc faced many adversities throughout his life. Before he even dreamt of McDonald’s, Ray Kroc sold paper cups and left that to sell multi-mixers. His multi-mixer business was in control of his former boss and he had to buy his own share of the company back. Then when he started McDonald’s he faced a lot of legality issues with the McDonald’s brothers. Licensing issues and mortgages. He was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt at one point.

2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Kroc had a special ability to recognize potential. Whether it was within people or business endeavors. He was always 2 steps ahead and he was able to hire the right people and team to get him to the top.

3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. As I was reading, I was confused by how he was considered the founder and how he was able to franchise other locations to other people if technically he didn’t own McDonald’s solely and he needed their approval legally. It was hard to understand all the jargon regarding the mortgages and franchise operations and what not.

4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? Well if he were still alive today, I would ask him his thoughts on the direction the company is moving. He mentioned in his autobiography that he hated the idea of franchise owners changing the menu. Many locations overseas have added specialty items and I wonder how he feels about these changes. I would also ask him what it was like to know so many powerful and influential people before they got incredibly famous and rich. He mentioned his encounter with Walt Disney both being enlisted in the Red Cross ambulance during WW1. He also mentions his encounters with big companies like Walgreen and Dairy Queen.

5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? Ray Kroc felt that success stemmed from hard work and perseverance. He told his operators that “any man with common sense, dedication to principles, and a love of hard work can do it [success]”. I do agree with this mind set. I think without hard work, there is no great payout, no real success.