Profiles of Remarkable Businesses (Collection)

Ray Kroc’s Way

The Editors of New Word City

You may not want to share this information with your teenagers: Ray Kroc—the visionary behind McDonald’s and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in American history—was a high school dropout. And the man who changed the way the world eats didn’t open his first restaurant until he was in his fifties.

Clearly, Kroc didn’t follow the book—he wrote a new one. The saga of his ascent from paper cup salesman to one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the twentieth century is a vivid lesson in leadership, drive, and common sense.

Ray Kroc was born on October 5, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois, just ...