Serve The Needs Of Others - A.P. Giannini
A.P. Giannini
Company: Bank of America
Net Worth: Unknown
Home mortgages, auto loans, installment credit – they may be taken for granted today, but before this son of Italian immigrants came along, such things didn’t exist. Amadeo Peter Giannini – A.P. to his friends – revolutionized the banking world by focusing on “the little people.” Giannini passed away [...]
Engage In One Kind Of Business Only, And Stick To It - PT Barnum
PT Barnum
Company: Barnum and Bailey Circus
Net Worth: Unknown
The Fiji Mermaid, Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker, General Tom Thumb the Midget – besides being considered “freaks”, they all had in common one man, P.T. Barnum. He was a master showman whose rise to fame came in the 19th century thanks to his traveling “freak shows”. [...]
Are You An “Accidental Entrepreneur”? - Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore
Company: Intel
Net Worth: $3.7 Billion (Moore), Unknown (Noyce)
As self-described “accidental entrepreneurs,” Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore created what would become by far the foremost semiconductor maker in the world. They didn’t set out to create a billion dollar company or to transform an industry, but that is exactly what the [...]
Trust Your Feelings - Lillian Vernon
Lillian Vernon
Company: Lillian Vernon Corp.
Net Worth: Unknown
Lillian Vernon became a household name at a time when women were not even supposed to work outside the home. From the humble beginnings of an immigrant family, Vernon started a business in the kitchen of her small home and grew it to be one of the most well-known [...]
Be Flexible - Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray
Company: Every Day With Rachael Ray
Net Worth: Unknown
The fact that Rachael Ray did not know where she was going makes where she wound up today all the more impressive.
Despite never working at a five-star restaurant, attending a single cooking class, or training under a revered chef, Ray has made a name for herself as [...]
Take Time To Centre Yourself - Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Company: Harpo Productions
Net Worth: $2.7 Billion
On January 29, 1954, the woman that would make a meteoric rise to become not only the richest female in America, but also the first ever African-American billionaire was born.
“What I know for sure is that if you want to have success, you can’t make success your goal,” says [...]
Have A Vision - Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Company: Polo Ralph Lauren
Net Worth: Unknown
Lauren was working as a salesman for Brooks Brothers in New York when he decided to jump head first into a new venture: Lauren was going to start designing his own ties. After hearing the news, Lauren’s boss told him, “The world isn’t ready for Ralph Lauren.” Today, with [...]
Don’t Live Someone Else’s Life - Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Company: Apple
Net Worth: $5.4 Billion
From the day he was born on February 24, 1955, Steven Paul Jobs has been blazing his own path. As the CEO of Apple Computer and CEO and Chairman of Pixar, Jobs is today recognized as one of the top leaders and visionaries of both the computer and entertainment industries [...]
Become A Hustler - Dov Charney
Dov Charney
Company: American Apparel
Net Worth: Unknown
When Charney was in prep school, he began bootlegging garbage bags of K-Mart t-shirts from the U.S. back to his native Canada. Today, Charney heads American Apparel, the brand-free, sweatshop-free, made-in-America clothing chain he founded in 1997 that is taking the world by storm. Charney was named Ernst & Young’s [...]
The Great Secret To Success - Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Company: US Steel
Net Worth: $298.3 billion in 2007 dollars
“You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb,” said Andrew Carnegie. Indeed, Carnegie was more than willing to climb that ladder, reaching new heights of success in his adopted home of America. As founder of the multi-million dollar Carnegie Steel Company [...]
