From Pizza To Crocs: The Unlikely Story Of George Boedecker Jr.

“Croc: How I Invented the World’s Most Popular Shoe, Became a Massive Success, and Nearly Destroyed Myself in 15 Easy Lessons” by George “Boe” Boedecker, Jr.

c.2026, HarperCollins Leadership   $29.99     272 pages

Man, your dogs are tired.

They started howling about halfway through your day and you can’t wait to kick off your shoes, shed the socks or stockings, and relax. Then, you’ll put a couple blocks of foamy plastic on your feet, and in the new book “Croc” by George “Boe” Boedecker, Jr., you’ll read all about those “ugly” shoes.

As a hungry ten-year-old, George Boedecker, Jr. knew all the hustles.

He knew how to grow his income with a Christmas card and a few stamps for the customers on his paper route. He could spot an idea from a mile away. He also knew that he could fill his belly by taking his customers’ milk deliveries. Nobody ever complained.

He grew his paper route, figured out how to have illegal kegger parties for profit, and he took a job delivering pizzas for Domino’s before attending “Pizza College,” where he schemed to meet the chain’s founder. That ultimately led Boedecker to the San Francisco area, where he turned a few stores around by taking shifts at competitors’ locations for a few days, to see how they did things. When he left Domino’s, he says he was courted by several other chain stores, but he turned them all down.

At some point, Boedecker had become a reluctant half-owner of a boat in Florida and there, he noticed that then-popular dock shoes were lacking in style, comfort, and workability. He fiddled with materials and figured out a new kind of shoe, and then he gave them away by the dozens. He called them “Crocs,” he says, because other related words were taken.

Those “ugly” shoes made Boedecker a multi-millionaire. 

To be wildly successful, he says, ignore rules; in fact, make your  own. Don’t pay any attention to naysayers, especially if things are working out. Avoid “terrible people.” Be adaptable. Give your money away. Know your limits, and that business and life should both be fun.

“Do that,” he says, “and you won’t run out of tales to tell.”

Dip your toe into “Croc” and you might be disappointed, at first: is author George “Boe” Boedecker, Jr. actually bragging? Eh, maybe, and it could be off-putting. Stick around, though, and you’ll see that what seems like a boast is really an honest showman’s prelude to madcap tale that grows wilder by the page.

If this book were, in fact, a movie, you might compare it to Animal House, for the sheer but very intentional chaos. Boedecker is a business nonconformist, and while readers might not be brave enough to do the things he did, it’s fun to see how it worked for Crocs. The benefit from taking the ride with him here is in the solid business-and-life advice you’ll find between the bedlam. You don’t even have to be a businessperson to enjoy that.

Readers who want a rollicking tale of a successful company will love “Croc,” especially if there’s a pair of foamy comfort on your feet right now. Find this book, grab a chair and kick it.