27A – Reading Reflection No. 3
27A – Reading Reflection No. 3
Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc
1) You read about an entrepreneur:
A) What surprised you the most?
I was surprised how old Mr. Kroc was when he began his McDonald’s career. Over half his life was over; he was 52! It provides hope for me moving forward because I will be 40 soon and feel that I have left my career on hold to follow my military hubby around the world.
B) What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
What I most admired about Mr. Kroc was he never took no for an answer. He always stuck by his beliefs. For instance when they finally went public, he would not budge on the stock offering of $22.50. He knew that McDonald’s was worth it. He faced a lot of push back, however he was right. The stock soared, making them rich.
C) What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
What I least admired about the Mr. Kroc was probably his wives. He had 3 wives and it seemed that although he did provide for each of them, he kind of left his first 2 because of his lust for the 3rd. It didn’t seem that he was ever “All In” with the first 2. I felt bad for his first wife, Ethel, the most. She stood by him for about 40 years and he ditched her because he fell in love with a violinist. She happened to be married to one of Mr. Kroc’s operators!
D) Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
Yes, Mr. Kroc encountered adversity and failure. He constantly faced scrutiny for his mixers. He would go on foot trying to sell them and he would be told many things for example, one that I recall was the business couldn’t use his mixer because if they had all their drinks hooked up to one and it broke than they would be out of commission. Mr. Kroc was also faced with regulations about having the mixer near the grill or fry area. So, they came up with a way to enclose the mixer to get around the regulations. It obviously worked.
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
Above all, Mr. Kroc had integrity (at least with his career)! Unlike my first book I read with Mr. Knight and Nike, Mr. Kroc did not believe it was ok to use spies to get ahead of the competition. He was also extremely creative and believed strongly in risk taking. He felt that one can learn from failure and he used them as teachable moments. Mr. Kroc was caring and a philanthropist. He gave millions to charities. The one thing I found interesting was he said he would NEVER donate to a college. He said unless they had a trade school, because he felt that colleges do not teach students how to survive in the real world.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
This is a hard question for me because I didn’t really find the reading confusing. I thought it was a well written book and it kept me interested. Maybe the one thing would be that he had such a strong integrity attribute, but he didn’t honor his handshake with the McDonald’s brothers. Hmm…
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
A) Do you feel that McDonald’s contributed to America being overweight?
It seems that everyone blames fast food for America’s weight gain through the years. I would be interested in hearing his blunt response.
B) You died in 1984, before your death Ronald McDonald came on the scene. How do you feel about Ronald McDonald being retired due to the public “relating” Ronald McDonald to child obesity?
I would LOVE to ask Mr. Kroc this question. He was an extremely blunt man and I bet he would spit fire knowing what had transpired after his death.
IF I could ask a 3rd question, it would be in relation to the movie that was produced about his “life.” Did he agree with it? I read the book and then watched the movie and I feel the movie was not an accurate depiction of Mr. Kroc.
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
Mr. Kroc named his book “Grinding it out.” By this phrase he referred to all the hard work he put in building McDonalds and also expanding it. He did believe in hard work and each individual he hired had to prove their worth. I do share in his opinion of hard work. I “grind it out” every day with work and school. I was happy that at the end he was on the board and sat back and let everyone duke issue out. He maintained control of the 2 areas he loved the most: Real Estate and New products. Great book! J
Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s by Ray Kroc
1) You read about an entrepreneur:
A) What surprised you the most?
I was surprised how old Mr. Kroc was when he began his McDonald’s career. Over half his life was over; he was 52! It provides hope for me moving forward because I will be 40 soon and feel that I have left my career on hold to follow my military hubby around the world.
B) What about the entrepreneur did you most admire?
What I most admired about Mr. Kroc was he never took no for an answer. He always stuck by his beliefs. For instance when they finally went public, he would not budge on the stock offering of $22.50. He knew that McDonald’s was worth it. He faced a lot of push back, however he was right. The stock soared, making them rich.
C) What about the entrepreneur did you least admire?
What I least admired about the Mr. Kroc was probably his wives. He had 3 wives and it seemed that although he did provide for each of them, he kind of left his first 2 because of his lust for the 3rd. It didn’t seem that he was ever “All In” with the first 2. I felt bad for his first wife, Ethel, the most. She stood by him for about 40 years and he ditched her because he fell in love with a violinist. She happened to be married to one of Mr. Kroc’s operators!
D) Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it?
Yes, Mr. Kroc encountered adversity and failure. He constantly faced scrutiny for his mixers. He would go on foot trying to sell them and he would be told many things for example, one that I recall was the business couldn’t use his mixer because if they had all their drinks hooked up to one and it broke than they would be out of commission. Mr. Kroc was also faced with regulations about having the mixer near the grill or fry area. So, they came up with a way to enclose the mixer to get around the regulations. It obviously worked.
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited?
Above all, Mr. Kroc had integrity (at least with his career)! Unlike my first book I read with Mr. Knight and Nike, Mr. Kroc did not believe it was ok to use spies to get ahead of the competition. He was also extremely creative and believed strongly in risk taking. He felt that one can learn from failure and he used them as teachable moments. Mr. Kroc was caring and a philanthropist. He gave millions to charities. The one thing I found interesting was he said he would NEVER donate to a college. He said unless they had a trade school, because he felt that colleges do not teach students how to survive in the real world.
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you.
This is a hard question for me because I didn’t really find the reading confusing. I thought it was a well written book and it kept me interested. Maybe the one thing would be that he had such a strong integrity attribute, but he didn’t honor his handshake with the McDonald’s brothers. Hmm…
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why?
A) Do you feel that McDonald’s contributed to America being overweight?
It seems that everyone blames fast food for America’s weight gain through the years. I would be interested in hearing his blunt response.
B) You died in 1984, before your death Ronald McDonald came on the scene. How do you feel about Ronald McDonald being retired due to the public “relating” Ronald McDonald to child obesity?
I would LOVE to ask Mr. Kroc this question. He was an extremely blunt man and I bet he would spit fire knowing what had transpired after his death.
IF I could ask a 3rd question, it would be in relation to the movie that was produced about his “life.” Did he agree with it? I read the book and then watched the movie and I feel the movie was not an accurate depiction of Mr. Kroc.
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion?
Mr. Kroc named his book “Grinding it out.” By this phrase he referred to all the hard work he put in building McDonalds and also expanding it. He did believe in hard work and each individual he hired had to prove their worth. I do share in his opinion of hard work. I “grind it out” every day with work and school. I was happy that at the end he was on the board and sat back and let everyone duke issue out. He maintained control of the 2 areas he loved the most: Real Estate and New products. Great book! J
Hey Liz,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I am glad you chose to do your reading reflection on this book because it was my next choice. I have always been intrigued on how some of the big fast food chains made it in the corporate world. I also noted how you commented on Mr. Kroc's abilities to take risks. These risks although sometimes you fail can leave you with an enormous amount of knowledge through both the good and the bad. The bad ones you learn, and the good ones done right can make you a killing.