Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc refused to hire any person who had an MBA degree. He believed that college degrees did not teach proper competitive spirit and those who attended university were missing a certain marketing finesse.
Kroc was the person who set in place strict codes of conduct for work ethic by introducing standardization and discipline to McDonald's and was the first person to introduce large-scale mass production to the service industry.

The original Ronald McDonald premiered in 1963, but as Kroc and the corporation expanded the branding of their clown mascot across the country, they thought it would be too difficult to find other actors with the same stocky build of the original actor, weatherman Willard Scott. So, Scott ended up losing the job and McDonald’s established the slimmer Ronald that we see today.

Ray set up the “Hamburger University” for future franchisees of McDonald’s. Before one could purchase a franchise, an owner had to attend and get a degree “hamburgerology with a minor in French fries.” Hamburger University continues and there are now seven locations spread throughout four continents around the world. Over 275,000 people have graduated from the school since it opened during 1961. The Shanghai campus accepts less than 1% of applicants, making it more difficult to get into than any Ivy League school.