Page 147 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

5 Courage:

Telling It Like It Is

Achievement must be made against the
possibility of failure, against the risk of defeat.
It is no achievement to walk a tightrope that is
stretched flat on the floor . . . or to win at tennis
without a net. Where there is no risk, there is no
achievement and where there is no achievement,
there is no real happiness.
—Ray Kroc

McDonald’s has never taken the easy out. When
Ray first began to franchise the company, he wanted to grow the
company sustainably, even if it meant turning down fast money.
Rather than sell territories to investors for some quick cash, he
held out for individuals in whose interest it would serve to nur-
ture each unit so it would flourish. “You make the first dollar,
we’ll make the second” was Ray’s motto. He also made the deci-
sion early on that he would not make money from selling his
licensee’s products, which was the normal practice back in the
1950s when franchising first took off. It takes courage to start
and grow a business, but perhaps it takes even more courage to
walk away from opportunity—especially when an audience is
expecting you to do one thing and you decide to do another.

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