The Founder

I watched the movie “The Founder” which traces the story of Ray Kroc, one of the most successful American businessmen. The golden arches of McDonald’s are immediately recognized symbols across the world. The credit for this largely goes to Ray Kroc, known (falsely) as “The Founder” of McDonald’s. Ray was responsible for taking the original, innovative concept of a McDonald’s restaurant chain and transforming it into a worldwide powerhouse of the modern fast-food industry.

He was an extremely successful businessman but he was also known for his dubious ways of having got there. There is a lot to love and a lot to hate about this complicated figure. I have captured below some learnings from his story of creating and popularizing one of the most iconic brands in the world.

Passion: Ray brought in a tremendous amount of passion to his work. This manifests itself in many ways- how he approaches his potential clients during sales calls for his milkshake mixers, or the way he convinces the McDonald brothers to get into a contract with him or indeed in how he enrolls franchises into the business.

Purpose: After his initial meeting with the McDonald brothers, Ray realized that he was onto something big. He had the vison and sense of a larger purpose about what McDonalds could be for America. He didn’t see McDonalds just as a place which served burgers, fries and milkshakes. He noticed that every town in USA had a church and a Town Hall. He saw McDonalds as the third landmark in every town. He saw it as a place where families could get together and communities connect with each other.

Perseverance: Ray’s persistence and his innate drive to never give up was one of the key reasons for his success. It took a lot to convince the brothers to get into a partnership, but Ray wouldn’t take no for an answer. He worked on them till he succeeded. And once he had the contract, it still took him a while to crack the business model, through multiple iterations.

Principles: Now this is where the story starts getting into a grey area. Ray went on to revoke the handshake agreement that he had with the brothers, which lost them millions of dollars from royalties. After he became the outright owner of McDonald’s, Kroc rewrote the restaurants’ history and began promoting the fact that he was the founder of it all and that his first McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois was the original one, even though it was actually the ninth.

As I penned down the learnings from the movie, I also reflected upon my own journey as a leader. I am passionate about what I do, but I have become aware that unbridled passion can lead to emotional highs and lows which don’t serve me well. I also realized that while it is important to have a vision, it is also equally important to be able to share the vision in a compelling way with the team, to drive buy-in and ownership, so that the vision can become a reality. Also having a purpose that goes beyond work has enabled me to take a more holistic approach to life, and strike the right balance between work and everything else.

Ray once said “If any of my competitors were drowning, I’d stick a hose in their mouth.” I disagree. Yes, as leaders, we are in the business of driving our business. But as leaders, we are also in the business of leading our people, setting the right example and leaving behind our legacy. And we can only do that if, in addition to our passion, purpose and perseverance, we also stand by our principles. There will be times when we need to take that call- does the end justify the means- and as leaders, we would do well to reflect upon these learnings and make the right choice.