Tweet

Engineering Success: How Slim’s Pockets Got Fat

Article Overview: There is no one in the world quite like Carlos Slim Helu. Until his recent jump to the second spot on the Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest, he was something of a mystery to the business world. He worked in relative isolation, with no computers in the basement of his drab two-storey office building. But, his seclusion should not be mistaken for a weakness. Indeed, his power is so great, that when he did suffer a weakness in the form of heart surgery a few years back, his companies’ shares actually began to tremble. So, just how did this son of Lebanese immigrants become one of the wealthiest people in the world, and a household name across an entire continent?

Engineering Success: How Slim’s Pockets Got Fat

There is no one in the world quite like Carlos Slim Helu. Until his recent jump to the second spot on the Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest, he was something of a mystery to the business world. He worked in relative isolation, with no computers in the basement of his drab two-storey office building. But, his seclusion should not be mistaken for a weakness. Indeed, his power is so great, that when he did suffer a weakness in the form of heart surgery a few years back, his companies’ shares actually began to tremble. So, just how did this son of Lebanese immigrants become one of the wealthiest people in the world, and a household name across an entire continent?

Instinct: From the time his father taught him about hunting for bargains during the Mexican Revolution, Helu has been developing his gut instinct when it comes to detecting a good business deal. And, he has learned to trust that gut, even when it went against what all of his competitors, the market, and industry analysts were saying. It was that confidence that took him to the top.

Vision: Helu is a traditional man who, himself, eschews many of the conveniences of modern technology. However, like any good businessman, Helu understands that he alone is not the market. By keeping one eye on the past and one eye on the future, Helu has been able to anticipate the direction of industries, and establish his position at the forefront of that change.

Efficiency: Helu is willing to do whatever it takes to make his companies operate as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. If that means cutting thousands of jobs, so be it. If it means retaining previous management, so be that. He wanted his corporate structures simple and bare of the bureaucracy that burdens so many others.

Ambition: Anybody who knew Helu as a young boy knew he was going to make something of himself. After all, by the time he was 15 years old, he had made more money from stocks than most of his parents’ friends had saved up in their entire lifetimes. It was by being unwilling to rest, even after he had achieved modest success, that Helu continued his rise to the top.

Giving: Ask most people to name two or three of the greatest philanthropists and chances are Helu will not top any of their lists. Despite the fact that he has not given away as much money as others at the top of the corporate ladder, Helu has brought his sound business sense to his charitable foundations. After all, for Helu, everything has to have a bottom line.

Helu has recently stepped out of the limelight and has passed the torch onto his three sons. However, the impact of his career, which he single handedly built from scratch, can still be felt throughout Latin America and beyond. Helu will not only go down in history as one of the most successful Mexican businessmen, but indeed as one of the world’s most successful businessmen of all time.

Related Articles
  David Key of Fresno: From 3D to Reality
  Ghanian mechanics bring cars back from the dead
  More Business Coaching Strategic Planning Success Stories
  Product Engineering Services
  Green Engineering Business Idea: Potato Starch Based Polymers

Article Tags: burdens, business deal, business world, carlos slim helu, conveniences, corporate structures, forbes list, good business, good businessman, gut instinct, heart surgery, household name, industry analysts, lebanese immigrants, mexican revolution, modern technology, relative isolation, seclusion, top vision, wealthiest people in the world



Related Forum Posts
Young electrical engineer - I am 24. Have a degree in Electrical Engineering and have worked in various engineering positions, also pursuing my MBA at the moment. I have run several successful businesses in the past; the largest being a regional advertising and promotions company, Mad Entertainment, LLC. Currently I am involved in a new startup, Moody Inc., which will be offering a first of it's kind product in a multi-billion dollar industry (officially opening in 3 weeks).
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert
Re: Success - I study success intently, and would like to share: Here's two excellent and nearly identical success-formulas from a couple of the world's masters. FIRST FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Clear, Definite Purpose 3. Committed Decision 4. Take Action In Faith (Bonus Secret Sauce: 5. Repeat Consistently) I made a video about this, but am not allowed to link it yet. Google "Ryze Success Steps" for it. Oh, and this is Napoleon Hill's (Master Of Success Laws)'s Formula. SECOND FORMULA: 1. Passionate Desire 2. Understand It Is Already Done (Faith) 3. Relax & Allow It To Unfold (Go about your life calmly) This one is courtesy of Abraham-Hicks (inspiration for the movie The Secret). Hope that helps!
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - Here's one of my most recent books The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success By Brian Tracy


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Improve E-mail: Avoid the Quicksand

BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMING TEAM

ROSI Return on SUNK Investment

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.