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“I focus less on looking back and more on looking forward,” says Case. “That was all interesting. It was a great journey for 20-plus years. Some ups, some downs but overall a great experience. The question now is ‘What’s the next journey? What's the next challenge?’” From selling fruit baskets in college to ranking on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest Americans, Case had come a long way to create a company that would soon become a household name and go down in history for its impact on people’s lives as well as its multi-billion dollar merger. Just how did this boy, who once dreamed of becoming a rock star, become the successful entrepreneur that he is today?
Perseverance: “I think it's really about hope and optimism and possibility,” says Case. “Some day we were going to be living in a more interactive world…I think just that vision of that, that some day that was going to happen, I think, propelled us.” Case recognized that in the early stages of not only a new technology, but also a new company, it would always be difficult to get others to catch onto your idea. Nevertheless, he stuck to his vision and worked to make it a reality.
Out-of-the-Box Thinking: “I'm an entrepreneur. I like building companies, but I also like building projects,” says Case. “The question for me is how do you get more change, more out of-the-box thinking, and more focused on scaling in the charitable sector.” Whether you run a business or not, Case believes that success in any walk of life requires creative thinking and a little bit of risk taking. Thinking like an entrepreneur is what sets apart those who succeed from those who do not.
Perspective: “You've got to be able to take a step back and not be so caught up in the day-to-day that you don't have a sense of the broader tectonic shifts, and maybe you have to make some adjustment, which is why the perspective part is important,” says Case. “Look at the world as sort of a mosaic and kind of see how the pieces come together.” Having a sense of perspective was what allowed Case to see his success – or lack thereof in the early stages – as a process that would evolve when it was ready. “You stick it out,” he says. “You just got to.”
Innovation: “We do believe we're on the path of building what may be the most valuable company and most respected company in the world someday, and we're going to continue to focus on making that happen,” Case once said of AOL. It was only by taking the lead, by taking risks and by venturing where others hadn’t yet that AOL was able to come out on top.
Solidarity: “Spending more of your time figuring out who you want to have on your team, and then pointing them in the direction that you want to go is really critical,” says Case. “You're only as strong as your team…No one person can really make it happen.” Case understood that it was the people he chose to align himself with professionally that would be one of the key ingredients to his success.
“If you're doing something new you've got to have a vision,” says Case. “You've got to have some north star you're aiming for, and you just believe somehow you'll get there.” Indeed, Case arrived at his north star and he brought Americans along with him for the ride.
“Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and you really work hard and you bring the right perspective to it,” says Steve Case. “You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do...
“The idea of an entrepreneur is really thinking out of the box and taking risks and stepping up to major challenges,” says Case. “You can be entrepreneurial even if you don't want to be in business.”
“I think a lot of people, friends included, were saying, ‘I know you're a believer in this and all, but you know, sometimes no matter how hard you believe it just doesn't happen. Maybe you should kind of give up the...
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Steve Case Video - Charlene Hunter Gault of PBS's The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour introduces America Online and interviews AOL CEO Steve Case. Case discusses the new popularity of online services, niche content, the "right to connect," and the future wired world.
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“Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and you really work hard and you bring the right perspective to it,” says Steve Case. “You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do...
