SungardAS BrandVoice: Become A Better Leader: Ray Kroc, McDonald's, And His Ten Recipes For Success (2024)

Thirty years ago today, Ray Kroc – the founder of McDonald’s Corp. – passed away. But three decades later, he is still heralded as one of the most successful businessmen in America. What made him and his company so successful? According to him, “The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.” The second part of his formula – “doing something about it” or executing – is the real key lesson. I’ve heard a saying once that adjoins to Kroc’s thinking and seems to be a commonality among many successful people I know: “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” This thought is the basis for the following 10 guiding principles Ray Kroc lived by, which allowed him to successfully build the McDonald’s business foundation and future.

1. Take your business seriously. Kroc did this by focusing on the details. If you look at the more successful companies in this world ( Apple , Tesla, McDonald’s), their leaders all focus on the business’ details and deeply care about the business and the customer.Kroc is quoted with saying,"I didn’t invent the hamburger. I just took it more seriously than anyone else...We take the hamburger business more seriously than anyone else."
2. Strive for perfection. Now, we all know perfection is utopia and unattainable, but that is not the point. It’s used as a guiding light to keep you on track. Ray Kroc said,"Perfection is very difficult to achieve, and perfection was what I wanted in McDonald's . Everything else was secondary for me."
3. Be an astute and sharp-witted entrepreneur. When the McDonald brothers didn’t want to sell Kroc his first store, he opened up a McDonald’s across the street (called “Big M”) in order to drive them out of business and convince them he was the right man for the job.
4. You have to have teamwork in your organization. Kroc was a strong proponent of teamwork, which is the backbone behind the assembly line order preparation that McDonald’s still has in place today. "I put the hamburger on the assembly line,” said Kroc.
5. Deliver better service with a smile. Part of Kroc’s strategy was to have customer service personnel smile upon greeting patrons. “McDonald's is a people business, and that smile on that counter girl's face when she takes your order is a vital part of our image.” Now, who doesn’t like a smile?
6. Be willing to take risks. As the old saying goes, “No risks, no rewards.” All of the innovation Kroc employed was extremely risky, but that didn’t stop him – he still managed to create the foundation of what McDonald’s is today. Kroc is quoted as saying, “If you're not going to be a risk taker, you should get the hell out of business.”
7. Dream big. Kroc didn’t invent McDonald’s, but he saw a vision of what it could be and executed on that vision every day in order to make that dream a reality. Kroc said, “Visions of McDonald’s restaurants dotting crossroads all over the country paraded through my brain.”
8. Bet big. The next step from dreaming big was betting big. In an industry where people went out to get a nice sit-down meal, Kroc was betting on his untested model, which served fast food on paper plates with quick service. "The McDonald brothers were simply not on my wavelength at all. I was obsessed with the idea of making McDonald's the biggest and the best. They were content with what they had; they didn't want to be bothered with more risks and more demands."
9. Always strive to be better. Kroc constantly looked at all aspects of his business and didn’t leave a lot of specific details out –including owning all the real estate that McDonald’s franchisees would build their McDonald’s locations on. This level of detail has given McDonald’s one of the most valuable real estate portfolios in the world today. “A man must take advantage of any opportunity that comes along,” he said.
10. Don’t just work for money. Kroc said, “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” To him, money only signified pride in his accomplishments.

Whatever business we’re in, we can learn from Ray Kroc. Though it’s been years since he first founded McDonald’s, his principles have stood the test of time. Embrace them, go forth, and taste your own success.

The SunGard Availability Services BrandVoice Team is a group of marketing, product management, and IT professionals with a passion for sharing their expertise and pontificating on a wide variety of topics including IT disaster recovery, cloud computing, IT outsourcing, IT uptime and availability, general IT, and general business.