Lessons Learnt from ‘The Founder’
Last week I finally got to watch ‘The Founder’ on Amazon Prime Video; a biographical movie that tells the fascinating story of the globally iconic brand McDonald’s that was started as a single outlet in California in 1940. Today the brand is the numero uno player world over.
This brilliant movie is packed with valuable career lessons that be it anyone — job seekers, business owners, entrepreneurs, etc can learn from. I have listed some of my learnings:
1. Persistence
Persistence is probably the biggest lesson this movie teaches. Roy Kroc started at 52, but the actual struggle started 30 years back when he started his career. In the movie there is a dialogue: “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.” There is an excellent quote in the movie by Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States which states: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent won’t; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won’t; unrewarded genius is practically a cliché. Education won’t; the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all-powerful.”
Winston Churchill put it best: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
In the movie, the McDonald brothers delayed on many ideas of Ray Kroc such as using powdered milk, tie-up with Coca Cola, renegotiation on contract terms, basement in-store, etc. Instead of giving up, Ray Kroc was persistent. He found new ways and rules to make himself more powerful than the McDonald brothers and then controlled the business terms and conditions.
2. Always Aim High
Norman Vincent Peale once said “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” People always settle for the low-hanging fruit. All of us can learn from Ray Kroc. He had an ambitious goal of making McDonald’s a coast-to-coast sensation. He overachieved it eventually in the movie.
3. Be Open-minded & Inquisitive
Before coming across McDonald’s, Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman. He had sold paper cups, worked as a real estate agent, and sometimes played the piano in bands. He certainly did not have a linear career path by any means, thanks to his open-mindedness. More importantly, when he learned that a client just ordered 6 milkshake mixers, he did not simply fulfill the order and move on. Instead, his inquisitiveness led him to drive over 2,800 kilometers to find out exactly why a local burger drive-in wanted 6 milkshake mixers. And the rest is history.
Expose yourself to various areas, even those you previously never thought of — you never know what may come up. Your lifetime opportunity might be lying where you never imagined.
4. Quality Is Important
Always strive for the highest quality. McDonald’s brothers ensure that every hamburger has two pickles and a precise shot of ketchup and mustard. There is no doubt that the brand is obsessed with quality. Consistent quality is what makes McDonald’s such a global success.
5. Become A Great Story-teller
One thing that Ray Kroc does extremely well is his ability to tell a compelling story. He is great at inspiring others with his contagious passion and helping them visualize his grand vision.
Start honing your communication and story-telling skills today. After all, who does not like an interesting story? The best part is that it will not only help your interviews and networking games in the near term but also take your career and life to the next level, regardless of what you do.
6. Be Methodical & Data-driven
The movie shows the McDonald brothers as highly methodical and data-driven, which I consider a key success factor of McDonald’s.
The brand measured each menu item’s revenue contribution and the finding behind the numbers is that 87% of the total sales come from hamburgers, fries, and pop. What did they do? They focused on exactly what sells.
7. Do an Exceptional Job, Whatever You Do
There is a subtle scene in the movie when Kroc was checking the work of his employees. No one, except the young fellow named Fred Turner, did a perfect job. Turner grilled the beef patties flawlessly. His outstanding performance caught Kroc’s attention and he quickly got promoted. He was named Operations Vice President in 1958, four years after he graduated from Drake University. He later became the CEO of McDonald’s when he was only 40 years old.
Perfect your current role, despite how tedious it might be. Because perfecting whatever you are doing now will get noticed — it is just a matter of time. Many successful people start from an unglamorous job. Unlike their peers, they embraced the boredom and perfected their craft, which eventually resulted in their seemingly lucky career success.
8. Be Proactive
Another important person in the history of McDonald’s is Harry Sonneborn. The then VP of Finance at Tastee-Freez, Sonneborn overheard Kroc’s conversation with the banker, approached Kroc, and offered to review his books. A master of relationship-building, Sonneborn immediately established his credibility as a finance expert and pointed to Kroc that McDonald’s is not in the hamburger business but the real estate business. Kroc appointed Sonneborn McDonald’s president and CEO in 1959 which he held until 1967.
Take a lesson from the networking pro Sonneborn. Don’t wait for opportunities to knock at the door, create them instead. This is particularly relevant when it comes to networking.
9. Be Kind & Grateful
Success is always more satisfying when it’s achieved together with others. In his book Principles: Life and Work; Ray Dalio mentions that he values relationships more than his success as judged by conventional measures.
Know your priorities and always be grateful.
10. Explore New Ways
Just because something is not done in the past, doesn’t mean it can’t be done in the future. Refuse to accept the status quo. Explore new ways by taking inspiration and ideas from various fields. Giving up on tough situations is an easy option, but exploring new solutions can create the path to success.
11. Select Right Partners
Partners should be selected for adding value instead of just giving their name and money. A strong desire to come up in life matters. To scale up McDonald’s, Ray Krock wanted to have multiple franchise owners who follow standardization, automation, and discipline guidelines. Firstly, he selected a few rich franchise owners, but they did not follow his inputs. Later, he carefully selected hard-working individuals for their work ethics and ambition. This idea proved to be hugely successful as these new franchise owners were focused and willing to follow Ray Krock’s guidelines.
Additional Reading on the subject could be Ray Kroc’s autobiography — Grinding It Out.
To bring things in perspective, McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain by revenue; serving millions of customers daily in over 100 countries. The company is the world’s second-largest private employer. It regularly features in the top 10 global brands.
I learnt many valuable lessons from watching the movie. I hope you can learn something out of it, too.
