Ray Kroc

Finding locations for McDonald's is the most creatively fulfilling thing I can imagine, he wrote.

I go out and check out a piece of property.

It's nothing but bare ground.

It's not producing a damn thing for anybody.

But I put a building on it and the operator gets into business there employing 50 or 100 people.

And there's a new business for the garbage man, the landscape man, and the people who sell the meat and buns and potatoes.

So out of that bare ground comes a store that does say a million dollars a year in business.

And let me tell you, it's a great satisfaction to see that happen.

There's a sign at McDonald's headquarters that said nothing recedes like success.

Don't let it happen to us or you.

And Ray Kroc wrote those words.

He believed them until the day he died.

Even in a wheelchair in his final years, he went to the office nearly every day.

He scrutinized sales reports.

He argued about building sites and he had a saying he repeated constantly.

As long as you're green, you're growing.

And as soon as you're ripe, you start to rot.

Ray Kroc never got ripe.

Thank you for listening and learning with me.

If you're looking for the lessons for this episode, head to the website.