Many people are familiar with the success story of McDonald’s but not too many are familiar with the story behind the story.
In 1930 two brothers Dick and Maurice moved to California from the east coast. In 1937, they opened a small restaurant in Pasadena, CA. What was unique about their restaurant? It was a drive-in restaurant, a concept just becoming very popular at the time.
Their tiny drive-in restaurant was a great success. In 1940 they moved to a larger city and built a larger facility. Their business exploded. Annual sales reached $200,000 and Dick and Maurice found themselves splitting $50,000 in profits every year. This type of profit in those days landed them among the financial elite of their area.
In 1948 they began to streamline their operations and by the mid-1950′s, the brothers were splitting net profits of approximately $100,000 every year.
Who were Dick and Maurice? They were the McDonalds brothers! They had hit the jackpot, right? Nope! They never progressed any further and there is a valuable lesson to be learned from what happened to them.
See, Dick and Maurice were great at being single restaurant owners. They were great managers but they weren’t great leaders! Their vision and lack of certain skills held them back.
In 1955, a savvy businessman named Ray Kroc struck a deal with the McDonalds brothers and formed McDonald’s Systems Inc, which later became known as McDonald’s Corporation.
Ray Kroc immediately bought the rights to a franchise so that he could use it as a model. He would use it to sell other franchises. He assembled a team and built an organization to make McDonald’s a nationwide phenomenon. Ray Kroc recruited the sharpest people he could find and grew his team in size and talent. His team members developed more recruits with leadership skill.
In 1961, Ray Kroc bought the exclusive rights to McDonald’s from the brothers for $2.7 million and then proceeded to turn it into a worldwide entity.
Between 1955 and 1959, Ray Kroc opened 100 restaurants. Four years after that, there were 500 McDonald’s. Today, there are 1000′s of restaurants in over 100 countries!
The difference? Leadership and vision!
The lesson? Leaders in the network marketing industry are the ones with the largest teams and with the largest paychecks! They have vision! They have developed themselves into the leaders they are.
Leadership doesn’t happen over night. It takes time. It takes a dedication to learn the skills necessary to become one. The good news? Anyone who wants to become a leader can become one!
I challenge us all to pay the “price” for success and to focus on what we need to do daily to reach our goals. We can do it!
How are you developing your leadership skills? Please leave a comment below.
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June 15th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for sharing ~ I never really knew the true story behind the creation of McDonald’s and how Ray Kroc turned it into the empire it is today from his leadership & vision. Great example you gave for what a leader really is all about!
Christine
Christine Casey´s last blog ..How to Make Social Media Work for You
June 15th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Christine, thank you for reading the story. It really taught me an important lesson not only in leadership but how essential it is that we don’t put a “lid” on what’s possible!
June 16th, 2010 at 2:35 am
Eddie
You hit the nail on the head, great history lesson, we don’t have to come up with the idea we just need vision to implement it.
Belinda
Belinda Cunningham´s last blog ..Reward your readers with Commentluv
June 16th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Hi Eddie,
I am not sure why I have never headr that story before, but it makes for a great thought provoking read. Thank you for sharing this story it is a great analogy that I will use and share with me own team.
Great Stuff,
Beth
Beth Hewitt´s last blog ..Making sure you actually work when you work from home!
June 16th, 2010 at 7:24 am
@Belinda, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel, do we? We simply need to model other successful people, systems, and methods of operation.
@Beth, I hadn’t heard the whole story behind the story either. Once I did, I shared it with my team too.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:02 am
I can’t help but admire the Macdonald brothers .. for doing very little other than run a successful, if small, enterprise, they still ended up with in exccess of $2.7m after Mr Kroc’s buy-out – sometimes it’s not about about huge sums of money but more about being contented with what you have. Probably not what you wanted me to say but I like to look at the other side of things sometimes.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:14 am
@Joanna, there are multiple lessons to learn from this story. You found another one! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
June 16th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Wow you’re right! I have never heard the story behind the McDonald’s brothers.
I don’t even think I knew Ray Kroc’s story! That you so much for sharing that! It was very inspiring and it makes me look at McDonald’s from a much smaller perspective now!
Chris White´s last blog ..Our God-Like Qualities
June 16th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Yes it’s all about the vision. Think small. be small, think big, be big. Thanks for sharing the story, great post.
Michael
June 16th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Eddie,
Thank you for this post! I heard of Ray Kroc but I had never heard of Dick and Maurice. The McDonald brothers had their JOB, but didn’t have the vision.
Some would say they did not have success, I would disagree, because that may be all they wanted and really wanted nothing beyond the one store.
Just another twist on your story.
Bill Hartman
Bill Hartman´s last blog ..Until you know the Why
June 16th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Eddie,
Thanks for laying out the history of McDonald’s with the lack of ambition of the McDonald brothers and the big vision of Ray Kroc. You certainly have to think big and take big actions to be truly successful.
You reminded me of Robert Kiyosaki’s point about Ray Kroc that many people don’t think of. Ray Kroc is not in the hamburger business. He is the business of acquiring a huge inventory of some of best and most valuable real estate locations in the world. He building his asset column that continually makes him money. Robert says “It’s not about the income. It’s about the assets that generated the income!”
Thanks for sharing this important lesson, Eddie!
Dawn and (Dave)
Dave and Dawn Cook´s last blog ..Are You A Social Media Prostitute?
June 16th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
@Chris, glad you enjoyed it!
@Michael, vision indeed! It takes vision to make it long term in business.
@Bill, yes they were successful at a level they were comfortable with and I certainly respect that about them.
@Dave and Dawn, I love Robert Kiyosaki. I’ve read all his books and our family plays Cash Flow all the time!
June 16th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Few people are true visionaries. Ray Kroc was one. Bill gates had the same vision in the 70′s and look how that ended up. Eddie thanks for this post about a pure American Dream.
Nelson´s last blog ..“The Money Jar”
June 16th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Eddie~
This is an awesome post! Spoken like a true leader! I’m glad you told us the history of McDonalds! It will be fun to follow you and watch where you go from here! You are truly a man with a vision!
Linda G. Cox´s last blog ..Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb
June 18th, 2010 at 7:23 am
@Nelson and @Linda…thank you!
June 18th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Excellent post! Leadership is critical to be successful. One of the best things that I learned about leadership is: leaders are readers. Leaders should always be growing and learning.
Kevin M.´s last blog ..Favourite Links Friday 6/18/10
June 19th, 2010 at 7:41 am
@Kevin, leaders are definitely readers! We should all make it a point to be consistently reading excellent books!
June 20th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Hi Eddie, I plan on paying the price and in the words of Winston Churchill I’ll never, never, never, never give up!
Bill Cowan´s last blog ..Turbo Fire is Here
June 21st, 2010 at 5:20 am
Great blog post.Really looking forward to read more.
June 22nd, 2010 at 2:44 pm
The story about MacDonald’s is a good one.Network Marketing is challenging and not for sissies.Thanks for a great post here.
Beverly Monical´s last blog ..What Makes A Good Business Partner?
June 22nd, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Hey Eddie, great story about leadership and vision
Peter Fuller MBA´s last blog ..Why I started my own Home Business
July 1st, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Many thanks for that wonderful info! I will be certain to go through more of your blog blogposts
July 8th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Hey Eddie,
What an awesome post! I have not heard that story about McDonald’s for a while. I agree it is a true sign of the difference between leadership and management and it all comes down to vision. Without a vision the people will perish. It is amazing what can be done. And yes I also agree that anyone can gain the skills needed to become a leader. It is in each and everyone of us. For me I work on aspects of myself each day to grow through my challenges and fears and come out strong for all who are waiting for me to show up.
Thanks again for sharing this.
Make it a great day!
God Bless,
-ed
Edward´s last blog ..Be The Change – The DREAM Project Update – Week 5
July 11th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
I think we’re reading the same book …
Wendy Hewlett
Wendy Hewlett´s last blog ..Napoleon Hill Wants To Be Your Mentor
July 20th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Thanks for sharing that and I do with your comments about taking massive action which is the key for me, but I do disagree about the multiple streams of income and this is where focus comes into play. It also depends on the true income potential of your opportunity. If it takes thousands of people in your downline to make a 7 figure income then maybe you require multiple streams. For me I want to make large upfront profits plus a residual and do it with just a few hundred distributors.
Michael
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:26 am
Nice one Eddie!
The McDonald’s story is always an inspiring one. It is amazing what leadership and a great vision can do for a business.
I remember being told the history behind the birth of McDonald’s at one of my first network marketing workshops. It is a really effective way to portray the model and the power of duplication.
Josh@Network Marketing Consultant´s last blog ..Tips for Network Marketing – FREE Guide
August 16th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Hi, with the abundance of crappy blogs around it’s great to see that there are still some filled with great information! Is there any way I can be alerted when you make a new post? thank you!