“ Nothing in the world can take place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. “

Although, I am more of a books guy but I happened to watch this movie before I could get my hand on the book Grinding it out by Ray Kroc. I am yet to read the book.

All I knew about Ray was from a question he asked/answered at a Business School.

“ We are not in the Hamburger business, we are in the Real Estate business “

When you watch the movie — you’ll find Ray to be an asshole. A wretch. Sometimes you will be pushed to a point to brand him heartless. Sometimes you will have sympathies with the McDonald Brothers. Sometimes you will despise the ambition in Ray. Sometimes you will not love the drive to rechristen the Bible salesman to a Burger joint owner — sorry religious people.

But why do we think like that?

Most Indians/people of the world have grown up with middle class values. And in that course of upbringing — money is taught to be one of the vices. And looking back(personally) it looks as if middle class parents — in an attempt to raise their kids with better values create/seed a bias. Another thing which caught my attention was excessive empathy — I would attribute this to Hindu Values instilled in our minds — I lay it on the Grandma’s stories.

When I was 10 — people with money looked evil and their ways evil.

Now I am 26 — people with money look smart to me — very smart.

Ray at best is — ruthless. And I don’t find anything wrong with being ruthless. Ray also is hypermetropic(long-sighted) — he doesn’t see two months hence or twenty years hence. He sees into the eternity. (Remember when he says that the secret sauce is in the name — ‘ McDonald’s’, a perfectly American family name)

And while looking into the eternity — he trumps people(McDonald Brothers) who are so emotionally attached to their homes that they would mine the Gold under their home. It is similar to middle-class Indian Women who value their Gold so much that there is emotional value alone attached to it and they stop looking at it as an asset.

I see a smart Ray and business-noob McDonalds’.

Although the McDonald event happened in the 60’s but it has a medieval virtue it. Fast moving, smart, agile armies always razed a slow moving, uninterested, unorganised populace.

Also if there was no Ray — Indians would have tasted a good Chicken Burger with Coke & Fries — at least 10–50 years later. And that would have been a very long time. I thank him for that.

And you got to love Ray — he is a fighter. He is a salesman surrounded by naysayers, criss-crossing the length and breath of the Mid-West and the West Coast, all by himself. And he somehow makes it happen. I love him alone for the somehow. Anyone who does a thing which is not visible to normal people, always does that somehow. Respect that somehow.

And the ingredients of the somehow are simply showing up and perseverance/persistence and walking on broken glass and taking tough calls. And Ray did it all.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.