Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's

An extraordinary entrepreneurial journey that created one of the most successful franchises in the world!! Ray Kroc's story is an inspiration for all especially middle-age businessmen - He started McDonald's at the age of 52!!

It allowed me to really get into the personal life and inside thinking of one of the best businessmen to ever live. It taught me real life lessons that I applied to my life with success. That's the only reason I read these books, real results. This book gave me that. It's an easy and entertaining read as well. Buy this

After reading this good I decided that my goals weren't big enough. Although I don't want to start 30k restaurants there are goals that I have that can be bigger. Read it, get motivated and rewrite your goals too.

Perhaps my expectations that I'd acquire valuable business insight and second-hand experience from one of the greatest work-possessed businessmen in the world led to my disappointment, however, I hold this to one star simply because it gave me nothing but a few nuggets of conventional wisdom. Nothing written about how he succeeded is replicatable information, it's just an arduous read through the most mundane details throughout his career and life. Also, Ray Kroc certainly paints himself in a far more favorable light that is cast on him as a callous, self-centered individual in the film "The Founder." The perception I received from him through the reading also made me feel like he'd be an unpleasant person to know actually.

Self-congratulatory yammering. This is a strange mish-mash of memoir and history of McDonald's. The memoir piece is boring, the McDonald's part is thin. The common theme is that Kroc is always in the right and others are in the wrong. I've never seen someone pat themselves on the back so vigorously.

Ray Kroc is an inspiration for anyone looking to reinvent themselves. He started McDonalds at age 52 proving it's never to late, never give up! His straight forward, no nonsense business approach is refreshing.

Absolutely amazing book. Easy to read and understand for non-native speaker. It is written well, you might find author 's relationships as well as how he made himself and his company successful. I have to recommend it to everybody!!!

I bought Ray's book seeking insight into business and the personal qualities of a business man. The book contains little business insight, but is a complete autobiography of one of the most successful enterpreneirs of the century.

Ray Kroc told his story with honesty and enthusiasm, but I am not richer for it. This surprised me, since I deeply believe in the virtues of individual opportunity, and Mr. Kroc lived his life by this creed.

I was left cold by Mr. Kroc's single minded dedication to business during his entire life. Maybe that is what it takes to succeed on the scale that he did, but it isn't something I would wish on somebody I cared about.

Ray's story taught me to make sure that my search for wealth and success does not consume me.

This is one of the most readable (and enjoyable) books by a businessman you ever will find. Ray Kroc was a colorful and fascinating man, and this comes across in every page of this book. Kroc did not start the McDonald's hamburger restaraunt, but he was instrumental in expanding the company far beyond the San Bernardino store. The McDonald brothers just did not have the motivation or perhaps the ability to expand the store worldwide, but Ray Kroc had that as his passion. When you read this book, you feel like you are in a living room of an old friend telling you old war stories from the difficulties he had starting a business. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. However, in business, you learn through your mistakes, and he was able to make important changes in order to succeed. Mr. Kroc believed that one reason for McDonald's success was its franchise system that resulted in thousands of motivated, small-businesses that worked under the McDonald's banner. In recent years, McDonald's has moved beyond the vision that Mr. Kroc had by complicating the menu, adding salads that no one buys, and trying too hard to woo the fancy-pants customers that Mr. Kroc would have realized were not McDonald's core clientele. McDonald's is a truly American success story, and this is a fascinating read. The book also is one of encouragement. Mr. Kroc believes, as do I, that being successful does not require exceptional intelligence or education, but rather persistence and a desire to succeed. Anyone in college who wonders whether there is still possible in America should read this book. One last thing: what I like about Mr. Kroc is his clearly unpolished mannerisms. We have too many "corporate" types who try to hide their individual personality. Mr. Kroc worked as a pianist in a brothel for a period of time, swore often, was married three times, etc, etc. Clearly a fascinating character and we should have monuments to people like Mr. Kroc instead of the politicians who we often times lift on a pedestal.