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Reading Reflection Number 1

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's (by Ray Kroc)
1) You read about an entrepreneur:
  • What surprised you the most? I was surprised that Ray Kroc started what would be his most successful business idea when he was much older than expected. He had already had multiple careers when he partnered with the McDonald's brothers. 
  • What about the entrepreneur did you most admire? I admired that he was never going to give up on his business even if it meant working long hours and paying himself very little.
  • What about the entrepreneur did you least admire? I did not admire that he came across as though he knew he was going to succeed. It is one thing to believe in yourself and your idea, but he seemed to think that he would succeed no matter what because he was putting in the work. 
  • Did the entrepreneur encounter adversity and failure? If so, what did they do about it? Ray Kroc encountered most of his hard times with failure before his partnering with the McDonald's brothers. His hard times were due to many things including war and the Great Depression. 
2) What competencies did you notice that the entrepreneur exhibited? Ray Kroc was simply not going to give up no matter what. He encountered some difficult periods and kept pushing through with longer hours and more dedication. 
3) Identify at least one part of the reading that was confusing to you. I was confused when he talked about Clem Bohr. As I understood it, Clem was to scout new locations for McDonald's and start building them but he instead abandoned McDonald's leaving them with a great deal of debt. I think that Kroc could have gone into a bit more detail with what happened with Bohr to clear up what happened and what Bohr did that was so terrible. 
4) If you were able to ask two questions to the entrepreneur, what would you ask? Why? I would ask Kroc what he thought were the best qualities about McDonald's when it was just the McDonalds brothers. Also I would ask him what made him so confident that McDonald's would succeed. 
5) For fun: what do you think the entrepreneur's opinion was of hard work? Do you share that opinion? I think that Kroc lived on hard work and it was one of his core beliefs. He seemed to think that you could accomplish pretty much anything if you worked hard enough and put in enough time. I share this belief to an extent, I think that there are limits to what you can accomplish simply with hard work and hard work alone, however, I do believe that hard work is something to build on and can help you be very successful. 

Comments

  1. Jenny KimMarch 9, 2020 at 9:08 AM

    Hi Riley,

    I really like your post! It was interesting hearing about how McDonald's came to be what it is today. I did not know about the history of it at all and the struggles of the development. I also agree with your "for fun" part about the hard work. Hard work can only be to an extent in the business world because I believe that a big part of it is being in the right place at the right time.

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