The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.

Kroc frames “major success” as a blend of circumstance and agency. The first requirement—being in the right place at the right time—acknowledges contingency: opportunities arise from market conditions, timing, and proximity to the right people or ideas. The second requirement—“doing something about it”—insists that luck is inert without decisive action. In Kroc’s business ethos, recognizing an opening is not enough; one must commit resources, take risks, and execute relentlessly. The quote thus functions as a corrective to both fatalism (success as pure luck) and naïve meritocracy (success as pure effort), arguing that achievement comes from seizing moments when conditions briefly align.