STEVE JOBS
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
When Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California , his unwed mother decided to put him for adoption because she wanted a girl. So in the middle of the night, his mother called a lawyer named Paul Jobs and said, “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?”
His mother felt very strongly that he should be adopted by college graduates and when she found out that both his future parents had never graduated from colleges, she refused to sign the adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when his future parents promised that they would send Jobs to college.
He went to college but decided to drop out because it was too expensive. Recalling his time there he said,
"I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple."
At 20, he and a friend (Steve Wozniak) started a company in a garage on April 1, 1976. Later that year, the duo debuted the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. A local store offered to buy 50 machines and to finance the production, the duo had to sell their most expensive possesions. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van while Wozniak sold his Hewlett-Packard scientific calculator.Jobs named their company – Apple in memory of a happy summer he had spent as an orchard worker in Oregon.
By 1982 however, his company sales sagged in the face of competition from IBM’s new PC. Jobs and Wozniak unveiled their new creation, Lisa to increase the company’s bottom line, only to be another expensive failure.
Not wanting to dwell on these successive failures, they worked on a new machine called the Macintosh. Jobs was reported to commandeered the project, ruthlessly pushing its computer engineers and flying a pirate flag above the building where the team worked.
By 1986 the Mac, which Jobs promised to be ‘insanely great’ was a huge success. After 10 years, starting from 2 kids working in a garage, Apple computer had grown into a $2 billion dollar company with over 4000 employees.
At 30 Jobs, however, was fired from the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak. He left the company after losing a bitter battle over control with Apple’s CEO John Sculley (whom Jobs had recruited from Pepsi Cola).
Apparently both have different views of how the company should be handled and in one meeting Sculley had told security analysts in a meeting that Jobs would have no role in the operations of the company “now or in the future.” When Jobs heard of the message he said, “You’ve probably had somebody punch you in the stomach and it knocks the wind out you and you cannot breathe. The harder you try to breathe, the more you cannot breathe. And you know that the only thing you can do is just relax so you can start breathing again.”Jobs sold over $20 million of his Apple stock, spent days bicycling along the beach, feeling sad and lost, toured Paris, and journeyed on to Italy.
Recalling this publicly heartbreaking episode Jobs said,
‘I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.’
During the next five years he started two companies – NeXTStep and Pixar.NextStep which produces NeXT, $9,995 cube-shaped workstation which aimed to create a workstation for research and higher, didn’t do as well as Jobs had dreamed for. It did poorly and Jobs pulled the plug in 1993.
Pixar, however was a success story. The company started the first computer-animated film, the Toy Story and when Pixar’s stock went public, Jobs became an instant billionaire.
Meanwhile, his old company, Apple was under immense pressure from rival Microsoft and in 1996 posted billions of dollars in losses.
In December 1996 Jobs convinced Apple to buy NeXT and make its software the foundation of the next-generation Mac OS. The technology he developed at NeXT became the catalyst of Apple’s comeback. Initially appointed as Apple’s adviser, Steve Jobs was named Apple’s interim CEO in 1997.
In 2004 he was diagnosed with cancer on his pancreas. Jobs was told that the cancer was incurable and he would only live for another three to six months. Later, a biopsy showed that he actually had a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. He had the surgery and survives.Under his leadership, Apple returned to profitability and introduced innovations such as the iPod.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma-which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve Jobs have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
Steve died on the 5th October, 2011. He was suffering from
cancer. May his spirit Rest In Peace.
BILL GATES
"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure. "
If you possess the mastermind and your intellect is put to correct use, one day you can be at the top of the world. Hard to believe? Then look at the life of Bill Gates, whose consistent victory upon victory is a proof of his genius that he is today undisputed billionaire by far.
Born in 1955, he has become the envy of all the richest men in the world and he achieved this rare feat within the shortest possible time. Bill Gates is today the chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions and has generated revenues of US36.84 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2004. The company employs more than 55,000 people in 85 countries and regions.
Early on his life, it was apparent that Bill Gates inherited the ambition, intelligence, and competitive spirit that had helped his forefathers rise to the top in their chosen professions. In elementary school he quickly surpassed all of his peer’s abilities in nearly all subjects, especially math and science. His parents recognized is intelligence and decided to enroll him in lakeside, private school known for its intense academic environment. This decision had far reaching effects on Bill Gates life. For at Lakeside, Bill Gates was first introduced to computers.
In 1968, the Lakeside prep school decided that it should acquaint the student body with the world of computer. At this time, computers were still too large and costly for the school to purchase its own. Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few other Lakeside students (many of whom were the first programmers hired at Microsoft) immediately became inseparable from the computer. They would stay in the computer room all day and night, writing programs, reading computer literature and everything else they could do to learn about computing. They even skipped classes to be in the computer room, and worst of all, they had to use up all of the schools computer time in just a few weeks. They caused the system to crash several times and broke the computers security system. They even altered the files that recorded the amount of time they were using computers.
Bill Gates was determined to find a way to apply his computer skills in the real world. It was here that Bill Gates and his friend Allen really began to develop the talents that would lead to the formation of Microsoft seven years later.
In 1973, Bill Gates signed up for one of Harvard’s toughest math course. He did well but just as in high school, his heart was not at his studies. He lost himself in the world of computers once again. Bill Gates would spend many long nights in front of the computer and sleep in the class the next day. While at Harvard, Bill Gates developed a version of the programming language called BASIC for the first microcomputer – the MITS Altair.
In December 1974, Allen was in his way to visit Bill gates when along the way he stops to browse through the current magazines. What he saw change his and Bill Gate’s lives forever. On the cover of Popular Electronics was a picture of the Altair 8080 wih the headline “World’s First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” He bought the issue and rushed over to Bill Gates room. They both recognized this as their big opportunity. The two knew that the home computer market was about to explode that someone need to make software for the machines. Within a few days, Gates had called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System), the makers of the Altair. He told the company that he and Allen had developed a program called BASIC that could be used on the Altair.
That was a lie. They had not even written a line of code. They had neither an Altair nor the chip that ran the computer. The MITS company did not know this and was very interested in seeing their BASIC. So, Bill Gates and Allen began working feverishly on the BASIC they had promised. The code for the program was left mostly up to Bill Gates while Paul Allen began working on a way to simulate the Altair.
The program worked perfectly. The MITS arranged a deal with Bill Gates and Allen to buy the rights to their BASIC. Bill Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, Bill Gates had dropped out of Harvard and Microsoft was formed.
Guided by the belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Bill Gates’ foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry. He created an operating system for computers when IBM was the market leader. But IBM did require an operating system to run its personal computers effectively. Bill Gates claimed that his operating system was better than that of others. He was immediately appointed to create an exclusive operating system for IBM computers.
Shortly afterwards, he offered to buy Computer Product Company’s Q-DOS program at an exorbitant rate. The company agreed. He renamed it M-DOS and gave the operative system to IBM before the prescribed time. Bill Gates earned a lot of money without putting in much effort.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates was shrewd enough not give the full potential of the operating system to IBM. He gave only a part of the system and asks them to pay for the complete version. At last IBM was helpless and was dependent on Bill Gates and ended up paying a heavy sum for his skills. This was a first major business victory for Bill gates. Because of this agreement alone, Bill Gates made millions in royalty as all the computers use his operating system.
By this time, internet browser was becoming increasingly popular. Bill Gates’ Microsoft company was not very sure about internet browser’s future. Mark Anderson created the Netscape to browse the internet. Bill Gates invited him to become his partner but Anderson refused. Bill Gates is known for playing hardball to make life difficult for competing operating systems and applications. Putting his genius to work, he created a web browser know as Internet Explorer and distributed it free. Netscape which charged for its services faded into oblivion and it future was doomed.
Bill Gates would go to any length to maintain his exiting monopoly. But he has no qualms. He said that any operating system without a browser would go out of business. So we improved our product or else we would have gone out of business, he added. Critics say that Bill Gates’ intensely competitive approach has poisoned the collaborative hacker ethos of the early days of personal computing. His vision is such that he does not look for win-win situations with others, but on the contrary for ways to make others lose. For him, success is defined as flattening the competition, not creating excellence.
No wonder, Bill Gates shuttles between courts to fight disputes. Bill Gates has been declared by Forbes as the richest person in the word for 13 consecutive years and his net worth has reached such astounding levels, he is today worth of $56billion.
He has become one of the most important minds and personalities of our era.
In order to become successful in business, mere hard work alone is not enough. One must have the sharp acumen to steer clear of blockades along the way.
WALT DISNEY
"Success begins with a Dream"
Walt Disney was a man of dreams. He dreamt big. And he made his dreams come true.Walt Disney was born in Chicago 1901, but he was not meant to settle there. Walt and his four relatives spent their childhood following their father’s failing business opportunities. They moved from Florida to Chicago, to a farm in Chicago, to Kansas City, and returned once more to Chicago.
Walt’s father had experienced small success and failures in his life and had been known as a critical and sometimes a rude person. He demanded his children to work even though the work itself was worthless. Walt, who was 9 years old, was first involved in his father’s long journey. He remembered he had to wake up at 3.30 in a freezing winter morning and stopped playing with toys that was left behind during their journey.
His father’s persistence was one of the most important factors that changed his life. Walt attended drawing class every Saturday in Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design, which his father considered as “an education”. Walt soon made use of his talent to earn some money. At the end of World War I, Walt quitted high school to join the ambulance driver troops and managed to earn a huge success in drawing and caricature for the U.S Troops. Supported by his self confidence, he went home to join the Kansas City Star as an intern in cartoon section. Because of his lack education and no connections, he was rejected.
On the other hand, Walt used his sketch during the war to get a job in a company called Kansas City Film Ad Company, which produced short animation commercial for local cinemas. From the technique that he learned from the job, Walt who was an entrepreneur established his own business called Laugh-O-Gram, by using his own drawings for comedic news, animation tales, and even film about dental health. Feeling optimistic with the future of the industry, he added $15.000 from investors and sold his cartoon series to Kansas City cinema.
As Walt’s staffs were getting ready to work on the series, the company itself was struggling to survive. Walt sold his apartment, stayed in his office and relied on his kind neighbor who was a restaurant owner to give him free food. When his only client got bankrupt six months later and only one movie from the series completed, Walt was also bankrupt.
Walt said, “It was good to experience huge failures when you were young.” And according to his words, he did not experience it again. He left Kansas City with only $40-that he earned from selling his Laugh-O-Gram camera-and joined his brother Roy in California by hoping that he could revive Laugh-O-Gram series in Hollywood. He aired his short comedic news at a cinema in Los Angeles and sold an idea for a film-a tale about Alice in Wonderland which was a story of an adventure of a young girl with cartoon characters-to a New York film distributor called Charles Mintz. He received $1.500 per film, this was his great debut.
Walt and Roy built their business together; they returned to Kansas City to ask Walt’s old friend to do some illustrations and train some interns. After their contract was extend twice, Mintz and his cousin, George Winkler, felt that Alice was out of date and asked for something new.
Walt returned with a series about a naughty rabbit named Oswald, the first animal character before any other animals appeared in a comic. The series was a huge hit, and soon replaced Alice. Disney’s success was finally here. With $2.250 per movie roll, the two relatives got married, bought their first house in an elite area, and renovated the front section of the shop to become a studio.
Since their contract with Mintz was running so well, the two brothers was curious because his other partner, Winkler, insisted on travelling to California every month to deliver their check and pick up new installments. On his next opportunity, when Walt was in New York, he finally realized the reason for Winkler’s visits to the west. Walt went to Mintz’s office to ask for a raise; apparently his proposal was only a demand to reduce his payment and to work together with Mintz. If he refused to do that, Walt would lose all his staff members, which had been persuaded by Winkler during his visits by promising them a huge raise in salaries and an artistic freedom. Worse, whether or not Walt agreed to it, he would lose his right over his most important asset: Oswald the Rabbit, which had been given license under Mintz.
Walt who grew older and wiser said that, “You might not realize it when it happens, however your worst experience would be the best thing that happened to you.” And so young and naïve Walt left, losing his staff and his job because of one meeting. His business and artistic creation were gone, leaving him like the first time he arrived in Hollywood with small amount of money and an idea. Now that he had some assets left, the thing he needed most was another great idea-something better that Oswald the Rabbit, something that could revive him.
Like any other great ideas, Walt’s idea was also in progress. Walt thought about the sound of a train on his way back to California that whispered, “Chug, chug, mouse, chug, chug, mouse.” Other source the story about a mouse that Walt kept in his studio in Kansas City; he fed and trained it, until he released it to “the best possible place that I could find” when he went to California.
Wherever that mouse was coming from, it was wearing a red velvet pants with big white buttons and it was named Mortimer. Mrs. Disney felt that the name was not good enough and suggested a name which was more suitable with Walt’s home in Midwestern: Mickey.
When Walt returned to the studio, he quickly prepared a production for a new film for “Mickey” prototype which was designed to make the drawing process easier “therefore those pictures could be drawn exactly the same, even if it turned its head” and simplified its hand by placing only four fingers. After the premiere of The Jazz Singer, the first audible Hollywood movie, Walt saw the opportunity to take advantage of the phenomena and deliberately worked on a new feature, Steamboat Willie. Using metronome to arrange the sound for the movie, he added sounds using slides, pot and pan, cow bell, and New Year trumpet, and his own voice for Mickey.
Walt felt his first “spoken” animation movie would become a sensation. The film was bought by the manager of Colony Theatre in New York who considered the movie as “special attraction”, and gave review. When the film was first shown on September 19th, 1928, distributors came to see Walt, begged so that they could buy Steamboat Willie and upcoming Disney’s movies to be shown throughout the country. Walt began building his studio from the moneyhe received from Mickey and began to develop more Mickey adventures-such as Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, and other Disney animals.
Walt took a lesson from Oswald the Rabbit and the result was he made the most important business decision when he sold his first Mickey series: he insisted to maintain control over his artistic work and ownership of his characters. At first it was a bitter experience, but in the end it became the most valuable lesson, because it taught him to secure his company. Now, the company not only has gained control over the animation industry, but also the media; beyond Walt’s wildest dream.
WARREN BUFFETT
"There's class warfare, all right. But it's my class, the rich class, that's making war. And we're winning."
Warren Buffett was born on a happy August day in 1930 the only son of the Warren family was born. He was Howard and Leila’s second child, and they named him. Warren’s father was a pretty successful stockbroker and this was where the boy acquired his first business skills.
His brilliant mind, with an innate talent for mathematics, was ready for business from a very early age: when he was merely six, little Warren bought six-packs of Coca-Cola for 25 cents and sold each bottle for a nickel, making a five cents profit. How many six-year-olds can even tell what a cent or a nickel is in relation to a dollar? Nevertheless, this little fellow new that very well and he even knew how to joggle with these values.
Another well known event that marked his perception of money and investing occurred when he was only 11 years old and he had made his first stock purchase. He was already working at his fathers brokerage and one day he decided to buy some shares. He chose a company named Cities Service and bought the shares for $38 each. Soon things started to change (as always on the stock market) and shares’ value dropped to a little over $27. This alarmed the young boy, and after figures went up again and reached $40 per share, he decided to sell his acquisition. Shortly after that however, he was disappointed to learn that patience is essential when it comes to investing: the Cities Service stock grew to $200 per share.
He continued to show interest in business and money making all his life, and he got better and better with every year. Selling golf balls and stamps, delivering newspapers, or detailing cars were some of his high-school jobs which helped him develop his skills and also save some money. Together with a friend of him, he even bought a used pinball machine for $25 and put it in a local barber shop. The idea was successful enough to determine them to extend the business to other barber shops as well.
When he finished high school he had no intention in going to college, but thanks to his parents’ insistence he finally agreed on taking some business courses at the University of Pennsylvania. He was disappointed to find that he knew more about business than did some of his teachers. He later transferred to University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he obtained a degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. From here he went on to continue his studies at Columbia Business School, where he met his mentor, Benjamin Graham, who taught there. Why Columbia University? Simply because Harvard Business School considered him too young and did not accept him in their program (he had finished college sooner than his colleagues).
He soon became very appreciated there and he even got the first A+ from Ben Graham, a recognition no other student had managed to obtain before. After graduation, Warren offered to work for his mentor for free at Graham-Newman, but he was rejected, as Benjamin Graham wanted to keep his vacant jobs for his fellow Jews who back then were not hired at Gentile firms.
So Buffett returned home (to Omaha) to work as a stockbroker and he also taught an ‘Investment Principles’ night-class at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Most of his students were twice his age! A few years later, Ben Graham contacted him again and offered him a job at his partnership. By this time Warren had been married to his first wife, Susan, for two years.
From here on his story continues with a series of successes and a steady growth in personal wealth. In 1956 (age 26) he established Buffett Associates, Ltd., in which his personal investment was of only $100, while other contributed with far more significant sums. This investment partnership later became Buffett Partnership Limited, and in 1962 (age 32) it started acquiring shares of Berkshire Hathaway. Needless to say, this move proved to be very inspired as Warren Buffett is currently still the CEO of this successful conglomerate holding company.
He is also a very generous philanthropist, and he even decided that his children will not receive very much money after his death. So where will all that money (his wealth in 2010 was estimated at $47 billion) go? Well, no less than 99% of his wealth is destined for charity, as he signed the famous Giving Pledge. His own words on the matter are: “There’s nothing material I want very much. And I’m going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die”
Buffett is actually famous for two things: his immense financial success and his surprising frugality despite his colossal fortune. There is not much to amaze you when it comes to personal belongings. He has been living in the same house in Omaha since 1958, a pretty modest one (for his wealth), currently valued at $700,000. He also owns a far more impressive residence in Laguna Beach, California for which he paid $4 million. Another big purchase was his $6.7 million private jet which he bought in 1989 when he was already too famous to feel comfortable and safe in a commercial plane. But all this is really nothing as compared to the mind-blowing acquisitions of some of his fellow billionaires, like the famous Roman Abramovich.
Before concluding this little story, there is one more aspect of Buffett’s life that we have to present as we find it much too interesting to be left out. Remember how we mentioned that Susan Buffett was his first (and not the only) wife? Well, it’s now time to clear that up. The two had three children together and remained married until Susan’s death in 2004. But they actually stopped being an item long before that, in 1977, when she moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in music. Warren wanted her wife to succeed as a singer, but he was heartbroken when she chose to end their romantic relationship. They however remained good friends for the rest of their lives.
Now for the even more interesting part of the story. Susan introduced his husband to a young waitress in 1978 (when he was 48) and encouraged him to start anew with another woman. Astrid Menks, the waitress, proved to be the right person for Warren and they pretty soon moved together in his house. Susan, Astrid and Warren were very good friends, and the married couple even attended public functions as husband and wife, while Warren was living with Astrid. What’s more surprising (and completely unconventional) than that is the fact that the three used to send Christmas cards that they would sign ‘Warren, Susan and Astrid’.
Buffett intended to leave all his wealth to his wife when he would die, but fate changed his plans as Susan died in 2004 (age 72) of a cerebral hemorrhage, after having been diagnosed with oral cancer in 2003. Her death affected him very much and he couldn’t even find the strength to attend her funeral. Our personal belief is that Buffett never actually stopped loving his first wife. But this doesn’t mean he didn’t also love Astrid whom he eventually married in 30 August 2006, on his 76th birthday.
So this is a quite fascinating story of an incredibly talented young boy who soon turned into an extremely rich and successful man, and who lately became one of the world’s wealthiest people.
HENRY FORD
" Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success."
Henry Ford spent his childhood on his family's farm, located just outside of Detroit, MI. When Henry was twelve, his mother died during childbirth. For the rest of his life, Henry tried to live his life as he believed his mother would have wanted, often citing lessons she had taught him before her death. Although close to his mother, Henry had a strained relationship with his father. While his father hoped Henry would someday take over the family farm, Henry preferred to tinker.
From an early age, Henry loved to take things apart and put them back together again just to see how they worked. Especially adept at doing this with watches, neighbors and friends would bring him their broken watches to fix. Although good with watches, Henry's passion was machines. Henry believed that machines could ease the life of a farmer by replacing farm animals. At age 17, Henry Ford left the farm and headed to Detroit to become an apprentice.
In 1882, Henry finished his apprenticeship and was thus a full-fledged machinist. Westinghouse hired Henry to demonstrate and operate their steam engines on nearby farms during the summers. During the winters, Henry stayed on his father's farm, diligently working on building a lighter steam engine. It was during this time that Henry met Clara Bryant. When they married in 1888, Henry's father gave him a large piece of land on which Henry built a small house, a sawmill, and a shop to tinker in.
Henry gave up farm life for good when he and Clara moved back to Detroit in 1891 so that Henry could learn more about electricity by working at the Edison Illuminating Company. In his free time, Ford worked on building a gasoline engine ignited by electricity. On June 4, 1896, Henry Ford, at age 32, completed his first successful horseless carriage, which he called the Quadricycle.
After the Quadricycle, Henry started working on making even better automobiles and making them for sale. Twice, Ford joined with investors to establish a company that would manufacturer automobiles, but both the Detroit Automobile Company and the Henry Ford Corporation disbanded after only a year in existence.
Believing that publicity would encourage people to by cars, Henry started building and driving his own race cars. It was at racetracks that Henry Ford's name first became well known.
However, the average person didn't need a racecar, they wanted something reliable. While Ford worked on designing a reliable car, investors organized a factory. It was this third attempt at a company to make automobiles, the Ford Motor Company, that succeeded. On July 15, 1903, the Ford Motor Company sold its first car, a Model A, to Dr. E. Pfennig, a dentist, for $850. Ford continually worked to improve the cars' design and soon created Models B, C, and F.
In 1908, Ford designed the Model T, specifically designed to appeal to the masses. It was light, fast, and strong. Henry had found and used Vanadium steel within the Model T which was much stronger than any other steel available at the time. Also, all Model T's were painted black because that paint color dried the fastest.Since the Model T quickly became so popular that it was selling faster than Ford could manufacture them, Ford began looking for ways to speed up the manufacturing.
In 1913, Ford added a motorized assembly line in the plant. The motorized conveyor belts moved the car to the workers, who would now each add one part to the car as the car moved passed them.The motorized assembly line significantly cut the time, and thus cost, of manufacturing each car. Ford passed on this savings to the customer. Although the first Model T was sold for $850, the price eventually dropped to under $300. Ford produced the Model T from 1908 until 1927, building 15 million cars.
Although the Model T had made Henry Ford rich and famous, he continued to advocate for the masses. In 1914, Ford instituted a $5 a day pay rate for his workers, which was nearly double what workers were paid in other auto factories. Ford believed that by raising the workers' pay, the workers would be happier (and faster) on the job, their wives could stay home to care for the family, and the workers were more likely to stay with the Ford Motor Company (leading to less down-time for training new workers). Ford also created a sociological department in the factory that would examine workers' lives and try to make it better. Since he believed he knew what was best for his workers, Henry was very much against unions.
Henry Ford became an icon of the self-made man, an industrialist who continued to care for the common man. However, Henry Ford was also anti-Semitic. From 1919 to 1927, his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, published about a hundred anti-Semitic articles in addition to an anti-Semitic pamphlet called "The International Jew."
For decades, Henry Ford and his only child, Edsel, worked together at the Ford Motor Company. However, friction between them steadily grew, based nearly entirely on differences of opinion over how the Ford Motor Company should be run. In the end, Edsel died from stomach cancer in 1943, at age 49. In 1938 and again in 1941, Henry Ford suffered strokes. On April 7, 1947, four years after Edsel's death, Henry Ford passed away at age 83.
MARK ZUCKERBERG
"Advertising on the Web is less about just hitting someone with a message... It's about engagement [with that user]."
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in Dobbs Ferry, New York, into a comfortable, well-educated family. His father, Edward Zuckerberg, ran a dental practice attached to the family's home. His mother, Karen, worked as a psychiatrist before the birth of the couple's four children—Mark, Randi, Donna and Arielle.
Zuckerberg developed an interest in computers at an early age; when he was about 12, he used Atari BASIC to create a messaging program he named "Zucknet." His father used the program in his dental office, so that the receptionist could inform him of a new patient without yelling across the room. The family also used Zucknet to communicate within the house. Together with his friends, he also created computer games just for fun. "I had a bunch of friends who were artists," he said. "They'd come over, draw stuff, and I'd build a game out of it."
Zuckerberg remained fascinated by computers, and continued to work on developing new programs. While still in high school, he created an early version of the music software Pandora, which he called Synapse. Several companies—including AOL and Microsoft—expressed an interest in buying the software, and hiring the teenager before graduation. He declined the offers.
After graduating from Exeter in 2002, Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard University. By his sophomore year at the ivy league institution, he had developed a reputation as the go-to software developer on campus. It was at that time that he built a program called CourseMatch, which helped students choose their classes based on the course selections of other users. He also invented Facemash, which compared the pictures of two students on campus and allowed users to vote on which one was more attractive. The program became wildly popular, but was later shut down by the school administration after it was deemed inappropriate.Zuckerberg and his friends created a site that allowed users to create their own profiles, upload photos, and communicate with other users. The group ran the site—first called The Facebook—out of a dorm room at Harvard until June 2004. After his sophomore year, Zuckerberg dropped out of college to devote himself to Facebook full time, moving the company to Palo Alto, California. By the end of 2004, Facebook had 1 million users.
In 2005, Zuckerberg's enterprise received a huge boost from the venture capital firm Accel Partners. Accel invested $12.7 million into the network, which at the time was open only to ivy league students. Zuckerberg's company then granted access to other colleges, high school and international schools, pushing the site's membership to more than 5.5 million users by December 2005. The site then began attracting the interest of other companies, who wanted to advertize with the popular social hub. Not wanting to sell out, Zuckerberg turned down offers from companies such as Yahoo! and MTV Networks. Instead, he focused on expanding the site, opening up his project to outside developers and adding more features.Zuckerberg seemed to be going nowhere but up, however in 2006, the business mogul faced his first big hurdle. The creators of Harvard Connection claimed that Zuckerberg stole their idea, and insisted the software developer needed to pay for their business losses. Zuckerberg maintained that the ideas were based on two very different types of social networks but, after lawyers searched Zuckerberg's records, incriminating Instant Messages revealed that Zuckerberg may have intentionally stolen the intellectual property of Harvard Connection and offered Facebook users' private information to his friends.
Zuckerberg later apologized for the incriminating messages, saying he regretted them. "If you're going to go on to build a service that is influential and that a lot of people rely on, then you need to be mature, right?" he said in an interview with The New Yorker. "I think I've grown and learned a lot." He also said he never had interest in joining any of the final clubs. "It's interesting what stuff they focused on getting right; like,every single shirt and fleece that I had in that movie is actually a shirt or fleece that I own," Zuckerberg told a reporter at a start-up conference in 2010. "So there's all this stuff that they got wrong and a bunch of random details that they got right."
Yet Zuckerberg and Facebook continued to succeed, in spite of the criticism. Time magazine named him Person of the Year in 2010, and Vanity Fair placed him at the top of their New Establishment list. Forbes also ranked Zuckerberg at No. 35—beating out Apple CEO Steve Jobs—on their Forbes 400 list, estimating his net worth to be $6.9 billion.
