Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Reading Reflection No. 1


The autobiography that I read was of Ray Kroc the person that turned McDonalds into the fast food giant that it is today. Kroc was an amazing business man who drive for success turned him into a legend but destroyed his personal life as well. The part that surprised me the most about his story is that it was not until he was 50 that he met the McDonald brothers and he began working with them. The part that I most admired is that he never gave up. He constantly looked for opportunities to do business and succeed in his career. To go from selling milkshake machines and plastic cups to owning the biggest fast food industry in the world is simply amazing. What I least admired is that this ruthless mentality led him to back stab his partners and ruin his marriage. He encountered multiple failures such as working for a bar that sold liquor illegally and selling bad real-estate but after that he went to sell milkshake makers and that led him to McDonalds.

Ray Kroc had a great mind for business. He saw opportunities where others did not. He noticed that drive throughs where becoming spots for young people to hang out in and this created and unfriendly environment for families. He also notices that the fast pace of the McDonald restaurants eliminated this problem and took the opportunity. He then turned the McDonald franchise into a real-estate business which created the foundation for this industry.

I did not find any part of the reading that was confusing. I did not understand how someone can care more about his business than his family but everyone has different priorities and one cannot judge from the outside.

If I could ask any two questions they would be as follows. The first would be how he lived with himself after he betrayed his partner. The people that gave him an opportunity to create what he did and then to just cut them out completely. The second thing would be after everything he accomplished and everything he lost. Was it worth it?

I think his opinion on hard work must be that it is for fools. To work smart not hard. Some people go their whole life’s working hard and never amount to anything. It is about working hard on the right opportunities and never for someone else’s benefit only your own. I guess I agree with this mentality it is a bit blunt but it is completely true.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Gonzalo,
    I really enjoyed reading your post about Ray Kroc, the man that turned McDonalds into the great success that it is today. It seems as though you greatly admire this business mogul but it is understandable how detached he likely was from his family due to his great success. I think i would ask similar questions to the ones you proposed, in such a cut throat environment it is hard to cope with the mistakes one makes.

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