Assignment 27A - Reading Reflection No. 3

The bibliography I chose to read was Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s, by Ray Kroc. 

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?
The overall theme and feel of this bibliography is to give detail of all the hard work it took for Kroc to become a hard working and powerful business man which ultimately resulted him in being an owner for one of the largest fast food chains around the world. The way this bibliography explains the becoming of the McDonald's food chain with the first introduction of the McDonald brother and their small food operation and growing it into the size it stands too today.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?
One of the main ways it connects with the course material and everything we have learned thus far is that it shows how Kroc was a diligent enough entrepreneur to get the job done with the McDonald's brothers and create the life and opportunity it has for him today. Having the details of how he grew up and pursued his business ventures helps tie into and give different outlooks on the venture concepts post we create for this course.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?
One of the things I would like to examine with a classroom of students would be to interpret their ideal venture to success and what they would do to find success if they were to want to develop a food chain similar to McDonald's. I would then have the classmates compare their answers with one another in order to gain knowledge from one another and get other ideas for execution. I would them have them compare their strategies to the steps taken by Kroc in order to compare their strategies with a professional who has successfully completed this exercise in real life. This would give the students a more professional angle at how to look at their potential business decisions, and make changes if needed.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?
I think my biggest aha moment in this book was realizing how hard Kroc was working to mainting and try and push one smaller business before buckling down and taking his business venture with McDonald's to a much larger scale. I think the thing I learned that was most valuable to me was if you have the determination, will power, and ability to get your foot in the door for ventures your passionate about, anything is possible. Kroc showed us this by coming from a entrepreneur who was selling blenders, to owning one of the largest fast food chains in the world today.