13A - Reading Reflection No. 1

I read Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc.

·      What surprised you the most? I think what surprised me the most was how many different jobs Ray went through before and after he perused his dream of McDonalds. Ray didn’t start McDonald’s until he was 52 years old! The book went through all of the different places Ray worked at and everything he sold before he found the McDonald’s brothers. For example, Ray played the piano for money, he and a few friends rented a hole in the wall shop and sold music and instruments at one point, he was a red cross ambulance driver, and his longest job/the most important ones to him before McDonalds was when he sold paper cups and Multimixers. After McDonalds Ray actually bought a professional baseball team called the Radres and the San Diego Mariners of the World Hockey League. I literally couldn’t believe how many different things Ray Kroc did in his life. He learned from every job he had and grew both as a business man and as a human being through it all.

·      What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I most admired Ray Kroc determination to succeed in everything that he put his mind too. He worked long and hard hours and never gave up on his dreams, no matter what obstacles came his way. I also admired how much Ray cared about everyone he worked with, especially all of the McDonalds employees. He trusted each and every one of his employees throughout all of his stores and always gave them freedom. Meaning he wasn’t one of those bosses that controlled every little thing that you did, he didn’t make them call him every single time that something happened or that they bought something. He trusted them, and that goes a long way. Ray Kroc also encouraged all of his franchisees to be involved in the community as much as they can, which I think is awesome. In his later years, Ray donated millions of dollars to charities throughout the country and also created the Ronald McDonald house. One of the things I admired most about Ray, was just how much he cared about his employees. A few years before Ray passed away his wife threw him a party for his birthday and at this party his closest friends and McDonalds employees were invited. He did the most amazing thing at his party, he actually gave all of them gifts of McDonald’s stock. It was a complete surprise to everyone and he made sure to include every one’s wife and children in on the stock. He mentioned in the book, that he really wanted to make sure that the wives and families knew how much he appreciated them for dealing with their father or husbands long hours and crazy schedules. I think this is absolutely incredible.

·      What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? I least admired the fact that Ray kind of abandoned his family when he was working. He would leave them for weeks at a time and work crazy insane hours. In the book, he explained how his wife and daughter understood that he was pursuing his dream, but I believe that family is the most important thing in life. So, I didn’t admire him when it came to being a family man. He took care of his family and mad sure they were taking care of with money, but was never a great husband or father to his child.

·      Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? Ray Kroc definitely went through adversity and failure. But through everything, he never gave up. He encountered failure when the hole in the wall store he bought to sell sheet music and instruments failed and had to sell it. Once this failed he just moved on and went looking for a new job, he didn’t dwell on the past. Ray also failed when he decided to introduce the Hulaburger in his McDonalds. The Hulaburger had two slices of cheese and a slice of grilled pineapple on a toasted bun. Although it sounds tasty, it was a giant fail and it was taken off the menu for good. He didn’t really do anything about this failure. One example of adversity that Ray encountered had to do with a guy names Clem Bohr. Clem had leased some locations to Ray for new McDonalds and ended up filling mechanic liens against them. Long story short, they owed $400,000 and were screwed. Ray ended up taking a huge risk and asked for a loan from his McDonalds suppliers and everything eventually worked out. Ray actually stated in his book that the situation Clem put them into “is a good example of how adversity can strengthen you if you have the will to grind it out.”

·      What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Personally, I think that Ray Kroc had an enormous amount of skills that he was competent in. His sales skills were tremendous and he was one of the best in his business. So naturally his communication skills were great. Ray was an extremely hard worker and would do anything for whatever company or place he worked for. He always treated people with the upmost respect and cared about every single person’s success. He made all of his employees feel valued and was a great boss and leader.

·      Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. Something I thought was a little confusing throughout the book was how the order of events through his life weren’t always in order. At some parts in the book, he would be jumping back in forth between years and situations. It wasn’t extremely confusing, but I caught myself being like “wait, when way this? What year?” Another thing I found confusing at times was when Ray went into great detail about McDonalds finances. He used some big accounting terms, that I only kind of remembered from my accounting class, and I ended up not really understand what he was talking about. I wish he dumbed down some of the facts he was discussing so I could understand better. A specific example would be when Ray was discussing everyone’s stock in the company and decided to contribute a percent of his stock and take away others. It was discussed on page 105 and I just didn’t fully understand what was happening.

·      If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? The first question I would ask him is if he regrets not spending more time with his daughter and family while he had the chance? Family is extremely important to me and he was never around his family. I guess I just want to know if he ever feels like he missed out on this huge part of his life and if he wishes we would have been a better family man. The second question I would ask him is how he was able to handle so many things going on at the same time? When he first started McDonalds he only had one person helping him. I have no idea how he was able to do so much without getting stressed out and discouraged. He must have been so overwhelmed with everything, but he was able to get through it all. I on the other hand wouldn’t be able to do it. I guess I need some advice on how to handle so many things happening in your life all at the same time.

·      For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? Ray Kroc believed that with hard work anything is possible. He never gave up on his dreams and pushed through so many different obstacles over the years. He also believed that hard work should be recognized and people should be rewarded for it. Ray worked hard every single day and admired and appreciated everyone he knew who did the same. I definitely share his opinion of hard work. I truly believe that anything is possible if you work hard and never give up.