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[The Story Teller]

July 7
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Lemons to Lemonade
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“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
—Unknown
​

The person with an easy life is the exception rather than the rule. At some point in life, most people find themselves in a state of depression or on the edge of ruin. This may be the very time when something wonderful can happen. It is often when we hit our lowest point, when we have nothing else to lose, that we are willing to take those risks that we would otherwise deem to be too foolish or too dangerous. Adversity may bring out the best in us. John Bunyan wrote the classic Pilgrim’s Progress after being imprisoned for his religious beliefs. O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), the great short story writer, discovered his writing talent while in prison. Charles Dickens had a tragic first romance and, drawing on his personal life experience, produced the story of David Copperfield.

Beethoven was deaf, Milton was blind, and Helen Keller was deaf, mute, and blind. Yet, their contributions to the world live on. These people with severe handicaps became overcomers. Life had given them little, but they made the most of what they had. Perhaps you will not face these particular handicaps. However, what if you were fired or laid off? What if you were to lose a loved one or all of your wealth? What if you were physically or emotionally handicapped? Consider how much you could contribute to the world if you pushed aside those things that are holding you back. Can you, like those individuals mentioned above, overcome your shortcomings and release the power of your talents?

Consider This: Unleash the talents within you. Overcome those areas in your life that you feel are “handicaps.” Succeed despite those things that would hold you back.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 8
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An Wang
​

“Whoever wants to reach a distant goal must take many small steps.”
—Helmut Schmidt
​

In 1988 Dr. An Wang was elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Arlington, Virginia, joining a prestigious group that includes Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Louis Pasteur, and the Wright Brothers. An was the son of a Shanghai English teacher. After studying in his native China, he came to the United States and entered Harvard. He emerged with a Ph.D. in physics and an idea for a revolutionary way to store information in a computer’s memory. An’s invention, a doughnut-shaped device called a magnetic memory core, increased the response speed of a computer’s memory. The device was sold to IBM and remained the standard computer core memory for two decades.

Dr. Wang founded his own computing company with $600 in capital in a walk-up loft in Boston’s South End. In 1951, his first year, Wang’s sales were a meager $15,000. To make his company grow, Wang had to inspire himself and his employees to come up with more innovation and more invention. Over the next several decades, with the help of a continuous stream of new computing products, the company grew steadily. Instead of competing with such computer giants as IBM, Wang found a niche in the small-business computer industry and later became a leader in the development of word processing and office automation. Wang grew his operation, Wang Laboratories, into a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue in excess of $3 billion.

Consider This: One invention does not make a company. Particularly in the high-tech industry, success results from a long series of good ideas.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 9
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Arthur Fiedler
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“A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
—Mary Poppins
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When the history of the twentieth century is written, it will likely be said that the person who sold classical music to the American public was Arthur Fiedler. Born in 1894 into a musical family, young Arthur took violin lessons but found them to be a chore. He attempted an apprenticeship in publishing but became disenchanted. At his father’s urging, Arthur decided to become a professional musician and by 1915 was with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he ended up playing, at one time or another, almost every instrument. He began making a mark as a conductor as early as 1924 and by 1930 was named the director of the Boston Pops.

Fiedler had the desire to take music to the public. He reasoned that since people freely enjoyed fine books and paintings at libraries and art centers, they should be able to enjoy fine music as well. Therefore, he instituted a series of free open-air concerts that soon became the model for other orchestras and bands around the country. Fiedler offered the public a variety of music, from current popular music to unknown classical pieces. In addition to Chopin and Wagner, he conducted a piece based on radio commercial jingles. His version of “Jalousie,” a hitherto unknown tango by a Danish composer, was the first symphonic recording to sell a million copies. Like a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down, Fiedler’s skillful blending of popular and classical styles soon had Americans enjoying music they otherwise would never have heard.

Consider This: Bring something to the market that people enjoy, package it with excitement, and you will always have an audience.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 10
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William McGowan of MCI
​

“Experience is the best teacher, only the school fees are heavy.”
—Anonymous
​

As a teenager, Bill McGowan earned his money working night jobs with the railroad while making his way through high school and college. He became qualified in as many jobs as he could and was often making more money than his teachers, thanks to union wages. After a year in a pre-med curriculum, Bill served a stint in the army and then returned to college, majoring in chemical engineering. Seeing that chemists rarely reached the top of a company, he switched to a business major and eventually received an M.B.A. from Harvard. Because he preferred small businesses to major corporations, Bill worked with Mike Todd on a new wide-screen cinematography process, then did management consulting for failing businesses.

In 1959 McGowan started his own business, Powertron, specializing in ultrasonic equipment, which was relatively successful. In 1962 he formed U.S. Servicator, manufacturing diagnostic devices for machinery. In 1968 McGowan was looking for a new venture when he was introduced to a group of men who were trying to take on AT&T’s long-distance telephone monopoly with a microwave system. Microwave Communications Inc. (MCI) needed help working with the FCC and raising capital. McGowan joined the group and provided much of the expertise that put MCI on line in 1972 and revolutionized long-distance calling.

Consider This: Experience with many enterprises can prepare you for that one venture where all your previous work will come together to create a gigantic success.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 11
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Harriet Tubman
​

“That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
—Lincoln
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Without freedom, there would be no American Dream. The freedom that allows us to have such a dream has been secured by many great Americans who risked their own lives for the benefit of others. Harriet Tubman, a slave born in Maryland in 1820, became one of America’s fighters for freedom. She had heard stories about a land in the north where black people could be free. At night, she dreamed of that land and looked into the deep night sky to find the North Star. That was the star that would lead to “the promised land.” Other slaves talked about an Underground Railroad, a network of people who would help slaves find freedom. Harriet knew she had to find that railroad before it was too late. One day she learned that she was to be sold away from her husband and sent farther south where it was much more difficult for slaves to escape. That night, Harriet made her move.

She escaped first to the house of a woman she knew was a member of the Underground Railroad. From that point, Harriet was led farther and farther north, from station to station, until she walked into Pennsylvania and freedom. Former slaves worked as conductors on the railroad and would return to the South to lead slaves out. Harriet joined the railroad and risked her life to lead over 300 slaves to freedom. She became known as Moses, after the biblical figure who cried “let my people go.” After the Civil War, Harriet tended to the poor in her house in Albany, New York, until her death in 1913.

Consider This: Freedom is a first and necessary step in realizing our dreams.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 12
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General Motors
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“Give a man a clear-cut job and let him do it.”
—Alfred P. Sloan
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More than 1,000 companies attempted to enter the automobile business at the turn of the century. Only about 200 ever made commercial products, and only a handful went on to success. As in all new areas of technology, the “shakeout” left only the smart and able companies. One such manufacturer was the General Motors Company, formed in 1908 by W. C. Durant. Durant brought together several of the new auto companies, including Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (Pontiac). The Chevrolet Motor Company, formed in 1911 by racing car driver Louis Chevrolet and Durant, became a part of General Motors in 1918. But, as so often happens in business, the genius who brought the idea to fruition found the company too big to manage, and in 1923 Alfred P. Sloan took the helm.

During the thirty-three years of Sloan’s leadership, GM progressed from producing only 10 percent of the world’s cars to making over half the world supply in the mid-1950s. Perhaps Sloan’s greatest gift to GM was a superior management style, which has been studied and replicated in countless businesses since. Sloan described his style as “decentralized operations and responsibilities with coordinated control.” His goal was to maintain a balance between individual and group management, giving each worker a clear task and the responsibility to carry it out.

Consider This: In every new industry, there will be a shakeout. Those companies that survive will do so because of better ideas and superior management.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 13
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Aluminum Foil
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“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things.”
—Walt Disney
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A number of products that we consider to be indispensable today were developed or discovered by accident. That invariably happens when some keen-minded individual suddenly realizes a use for an item that was originally developed for another purpose. The microwave oven, facial tissues (Kleenex), Silly Putty, the Slinky, the Frisbee, and even the Band-Aid were all derived from some other product. Another item that was discovered “by accident” was aluminum foil.

The Reynolds Metals Company had developed a foil in the 1920s for use as a candy and cigarette wrap. Other aluminum products they produced included house siding, pots and pans, and windows. One Thanksgiving in the 1930s, the wife of a Reynolds executive was looking for a pan in which to roast a turkey. When she couldn’t locate one, her husband came up with the idea of wrapping the bird in some of the company’s foil. The result was promising, but nothing came of the experiment until after World War II. After further development of the foil for consumer use, Reynolds introduced its aluminum foil to the world in 1947. Sales grew quickly until the Korean War, when Reynolds voluntarily limited its production of foil to support the war effort. At the end of the conflict, sales of the company’s hallmark product again soared, and aluminum foil has since become a staple of virtually every American kitchen.

Consider This: Look for new uses for the products you sell or use today. Listen to how customers use your products. You might discover a whole new industry.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 14
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Proverbs in Business
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“Wisdom … is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her.”
—Proverbs 8:11
​

Mary Crowley never went to business school, but when she needed help training the sales force for her home decorating company, she turned to Proverbs, a book of wisdom in the Bible. For Mary, the graduate education of life was the realization that truth, including business truth, can be found in the wisdom of the Bible. She based her successful company, Home Interiors, on the many common-sense principles that are found in the Bible’s book of Proverbs. On laziness: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.” On seeking help: “The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” The work ethic: “In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” The reality that business is messy: “Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox.”

Along with business principles, Proverbs also gives personal advice. Dealing with anger: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” and “He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.” Dealing with pride: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Avoiding confrontation: “Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, but any fool will quarrel.” Priorities: “He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not become rich.”

Consider This: The reason that the Bible is the world’s all-time best-selling book is because its wisdom is as fresh today as it was thousands of years ago.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 15
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Patrick McGovern
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“What we try to do is build a total common family.”
—Patrick McGovern
​

In the tenth grade, Patrick McGovern read a book about computers, entitled Giant Brains, or Machines That Think. It was then and there that he caught the computer bug. Soon, Patrick built a small computer that played tic-tac-toe and won a scholarship to MIT. While there, he helped edit a Boston-based computer magazine. After graduation, in 1964, Patrick decided that there was a need for gathering statistics on the emerging computer industry. He presold his service to Xerox, Burroughs, and Univac, and hired high school students to count computers throughout the country. Patrick’s company, International Data Group, was successful, and in 1967 he ventured into publishing with the periodical ComputerWorld.

McGovern felt that his leadership style was closely akin to cheerleading. He sent reporters congratulatory notes and regularly visited employees at their desks. He personally visited each of his employees at least once every year and handed out millions of dollars in cash bonuses on the spot. McGovern was known to work on the beginning of an idea and then leave the rest of the concept to be developed by others. His successful publications include PC World, Mac World, and a host of other American and international computer-related magazines. From its infancy at the birth of the personal computer era, McGovern’s International Data Group (IDG) grew to become the world’s leading computer publishing, research, and exposition-management company.

Consider This: In a growing business, someone has to have the vision to lead and to cheer on others. Hire competent managers to keep things in order.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 16
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Celestial Seasonings
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“Good taste is the flower of good sense.”
—A. Poincelot
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Just for his own pleasure, Mo Siegel picked herbs in the mountains of Colorado and blended them to make an herbal tea. His friends loved the tea and encouraged him to sell the blend. Mo experimented with selling small amounts of his concoction at some local health food stores, and customers seemed to like it very much. Although his small experiment was successful, Mo found that creating a company to produce and sell large amounts of tea was not easy. However, the dream of success was fixed in his mind, and it urged him on. Mo and his wife, Peggy, crisscrossed the country, introducing their tea to skeptical store owners. Back home, there was no money to hire herb pickers, make the teabags, print the boxes, or pay the helpers. Times were very lean.

Mo believed that his company would make it. A college drop-out, Mo’s business acumen and success-oriented attitude came from reading the writings and biographies of his American heroes, among them Abe Lincoln, Walt Disney, Tom Watson, and others. He also had a deep belief in God and had studied carefully the teachings of Jesus. Work, work, and more work slowly moved the business into prosperity. Mo Siegel was smart enough to realize that he could not know everything, and as his Celestial Seasonings company grew, he hired key people from Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Pepperidge Farms, General Foods, and other successful corporations. Workers were given ownership in the company, and their commitment to excellence in quality and production made Celestial Seasonings a classic success story.

Consider This: Work, work, work. Think, think, think. Working hard and thinking smart are still two main keys to success.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 17
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Norm Brinker
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“Norman epitomizes the spirit of American entrepreneurship.”
—Dave Thomas
​

While only a first grader, Norm Brinker dreamed of owning a horse. His family couldn’t afford one, so Norm earned the money himself by picking cotton, delivering newspapers, raising rabbits, and kenneling dogs. Those early businesses taught him both success and failure. Norm’s skill and love of riding earned him a spot on the 1952 Olympic equestrian team. Two years later, at the Modern Pentathlon in Hungary, Norm’s horse stumbled during a jumping competition, catapulting him out of the saddle. Even though he sustained a broken collarbone, Norm got back on his mount and finished eighth in a field of sixty.

To pay his way through college, Norm sold cutlery door to door. Upon graduation, he received a number of job offers and chose the one that promised to be the most “fun.” With an energetic and honest approach to business, Norm played an important role in the expansion of Jack-in-the-Box restaurants during the 1960s. However, his own first restaurant, Brink’s Coffee Shop, was a failure. After rethinking and studying the market, he conceived and opened a restaurant based on an Old English theme. Steak & Ale was an instant success and became the model for an entire “casual dining” industry. Norm Brinker’s zest for life was put to the test in 1993 when he was almost killed in a polo accident. Doctor’s gave up on him, but family and friends prayed and pulled for his recovery. After weeks in a coma, he woke up, responded to therapy, and eventually returned to work.

Consider This: Persistence, fortitude, and hard work are the foundations of success. When you are knocked down, get back up and keep fighting.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 18
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The Typewriter
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“Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual.”
—Honoré de Balzac
​

Christopher Sholes was not the first person to invent the typewriter—in fact, he was the fifty-second. As early as 1843, patents had been sought and awarded for writing machines. It was in 1866 that Sholes, a printer and newspaperman, was tinkering with a machine to number book pages when a friend remarked that a similar machine could be built to type letters. For seven years, Sholes worked on versions of the machine, but money was running out. Writing letters on the new device, Sholes contacted a Pennsylvania businessman and promoter, James Desmore. Desmore agreed to pay Sholes’s bills of $600 and provide future financing in exchange for a 25 percent stake in the invention. Sholes agreed, not knowing that the $600 represented all of Desmore’s liquid assets.

Desmore embraced the new venture with enthusiasm. Realizing that they needed more mechanical expertise and financing, the pair sold rights to the machine to Remington. Sholes took a $12,000 payment for his share, and Desmore negotiated a royalty that would eventually pay him $1.5 million. Remington promoted the machine but was a little off in its initial marketing of the typewriter: “Persons traveling by sea can write with it when pen writing is impossible.” Finally, the business advantages of typewriting were recognized, and with the help of the YWCA, many thousands of women were trained as typists and gained their first entry into the business world.

Consider This: You may not be the first to think of a new idea, but if you keep at it when others quit, you may well be the one who gets the prize.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 19
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Amway
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“Go into business for yourself. Don’t be afraid to take risks. It’s the only way to succeed.”
—Richard DeVos’s father
​

Richard DeVos and Jan Van Andel met in high school and became close friends. Both were from a Dutch background that instilled the ethics of hard work and self-esteem. After high school, DeVos and Van Andel fought in World War II, after which they started a flying school and operated a hamburger stand. After selling their first business, they attempted to travel to South America in an old sailboat, but it sank by the time they reached Cuba. After returning to their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they were introduced to the direct selling of food supplements through a friend. They were good at it and soon built a distribution network of 5,000 people that they named the American Way Association (Amway).

Amway began when DeVos and Van Andel introduced their own product, an all-purpose cleaner derived from coconut oil. Amway provided a way for people to make money on a part-time basis, but it also provided the full-time worker the opportunity to become a distributor with an unlimited income. DeVos was the team’s cheerleader and encouraged more than a million salespeople with positive thinking and risk-taking dares. Van Andel kept the team’s head out of the clouds by telling the distributors that “Amway isn’t a fast-buck, easy-money scheme. It requires all the attention you would expect to put into a business of your own.” Like any business, growth cannot be based on hype. Superior products, research and development, factories, and distribution centers are all crucial to a business’s expansion.

Consider This: Hype must be backed up by excellent products or the business will eventually fail.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 20
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The Potato Chip
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“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
​

In 1853 George Crum was chef at a resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, when he came up with a new way to fry potatoes. Everyone liked the idea, but people constantly told George to cut the potatoes thinner and thinner. Finally, he began slicing the potatoes so thinly that they were transparent, then fried them in deep oil and salted them. The potatoes were a big hit at the resort and became known as Saratoga Chips along the East Coast. Once a good idea materializes, it takes no time for enterprising imitators to try their hand at the task.

In the 1890s George Sleeper also made a contribution to the potato chip. He was a caterer in Massachusetts when he began placing potato chips in box lunches. They proved so popular that he built a business around the chips and popularized their use in packaged lunches. In 1921 Earl Wise used the potato chip to get him out of a bind. As a grocer with far too many potatoes, he decided to slice them on his cabbage cutter and make them into chips, which he sold in bags for a nickel each. His idea soon grew into a business, and Wise Potato Chips became one of the first producers of processed foods sold in grocery stores. Literally hundreds of independent chip makers sprang up throughout the United States in the twenties and thirties and after World War II. Many of those enterprises eventually were assimilated into larger food companies.

Consider This: Good ideas do not have to be original. It may be less risky to duplicate someone else’s success from another part of the country.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 21
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Edwin Hewitt
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“An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.”
—Emerson
​

Like many young men in their early thirties, Edwin (Ted) Hewitt had a dream about his career. He enjoyed being an insurance salesman and was making a good living, but the lure of owning his own business tugged at him. In 1940 Ted made the decision to start his own company. He planned for a year, working out the details of the structure and philosophy his organization would have, the kinds of people to hire, and the business principles the company would follow. Ted’s intention was to develop a business specializing in financial planning, and he soon began recruiting his team. With his small company situated in the Chicago’s financial district, Ted and his associates began approaching local corporations.

Parker Pens was an early client, and Hewitt helped that company set up a formal retirement plan. That project caused Hewitt to re-examine his business plan. There was a conflict. Although he felt that insurance was not always the best answer to retirement plans, he had made most of his money selling insurance for retirement. World War II interrupted his company’s growth, but after the war, Hewitt made the decision to concentrate on providing consulting services for benefit planning on a fee basis. Although his business was headed in a new direction, Hewitt’s work in planning the company’s philosophy before it hired a single person made it one of the most desirable places to work in America.

Consider This: The tools of the trade may change, but the importance of human values and relationships to success remains constant.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 22
​

Martha Berry
​

“Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”
—Berry College motto
​

One Sunday Martha Berry, the young daughter of a well-to-do family in northern Georgia, went out to an old log cabin to read and write. She noticed that mountain children were peeking in to watch her. Inviting them in, she told them Bible stories. Week after week, more children and even adults came to listen. Martha was taken with the bright youngsters, who had virtually no chance of obtaining an education, and started a small school in an old church near Lavender Mountain. The church was named Possum Trot, and it became the cradle of one of the most fantastic educational institutions in America.

Students worked at the school to pay their tuition, and Martha never turned away anyone for lack of funds. She named the gate leading to the campus The Gate of Opportunity and believed that every building on the site should have a spire, “to keep people looking up.” As needs grew, Martha searched for outside funding. Martha Berry and her school inspired the world and attracted such benefactors as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt, the king and queen of England, and many more. Each time a new project was needed, Martha announced, “We are stepping out on a plank of faith.” Even today, according to Martha Berry’s wishes, Berry College continues to be a different kind of institution, with a strong commitment to “educational quality, Christian values, insistence on the work ethic, and adherence to the principles of American private enterprise: personal responsibility, individual initiative, service to others, courage to take risks, belief in self and in our nation.”

Consider This: One person can change the world. Could you be that one person?

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 23
​

Irving Berlin
​

“Simplicity is the badge of genius. Simplicity is the badge of distinction.”
—Milne
​

As one of the most published songwriters in America, Irving Berlin surely must have studied with the great composers, learned music theory from European masters, or received training at a great conservatory. In reality, Berlin had none of those advantages. After only two years of formal education, he took to the streets as an entertainer. He sang in saloons and learned to pick out tunes with one finger on the keyboard. He never learned harmony and could only play in the key of F sharp. Yet, in 1907 Berlin began to compose. It was not until 1911 that he had his first big hit, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” which sold over a million copies in the first few months. Drafted in 1917 for service in World War I, Berlin wrote a soldier’s show that included the popular “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.”

Berlin’s songs seem to be spontaneous inspirations. Yet, his process of writing was long and painful. He often struggled with lyrics, going through many revisions to get them right. Then, with his limited mastery of the piano, he would bang out a tune. Somehow, after all the agonizing, the song would begin to flow naturally. Unlike a Gershwin song that can be identified after hearing its first measure, Berlin’s songs have never had a distinctive style. Berlin never initiated a new musical trend; he just took an existing trend and adapted his music to it. He wrote for the Ziegfeld Follies, Marx Brothers movies, and Broadway shows. His best-known hits have included “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.” In his own simplicity Irving Berlin has managed to tell the ever-changing story of America in song.

Consider This: You don’t have to be complex to be good. Simplicity goes a long way and has staying power that no fad will ever match.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 24
​

Shareware
​

“True creativeness is finding new possibilities in old situations.”
—Unknown
​

There may be nothing new under the sun, but there are plenty of people who are still discovering interesting marketing ideas—or developing new twists on old ones. Chrysler made the rebate a part of Americana. Horchow brought a new concept to mail order. Television shopping channels are hot. But one of the most radical concepts in marketing in recent years is Shareware, also known as Freeware or User-supported Software. Originally, the Shareware concept allowed people to freely copy evaluation versions of computer software and pass them along to friends. Clubs soon popped up all over the world offering vast libraries of the “free” software. The question is, how can such software be written, supported, or improved?

People who use Shareware programs are asked to send a registration fee to the author if they like and use the software. Such payment usually entitles users to receive a printed manual, phone support, and additional goodies. You might be tempted to think that the programmers who make the software are hobbyists. Some are; however, some of the programs bring in over a million dollars in fees each year. Many Shareware programs are as good as or better than their retail equivalents. Many well-known current or former Shareware programs, among them DOOM, Procomm, WINKS, and Automenu, are a testament to this creative marketing concept.

Consider This: There are new ways to market your product or idea. Look around and learn from other industries. What is working there? Can a similar concept be used by your organization?

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 25
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A New Disney
​

“As long as you act as if you’re coming from behind, you have a shot at staying ahead.”
—Michael Eisner
​

Walt Disney created much more than a company—he created a real part of the American Dream. Many of our values and goals have been shaped by the fantasy of Disney’s stories. Those skillfully crafted tales made it possible to see an exciting future painted with the wonderful colors of imagination. After Disney’s death in 1966, the entertainment empire he constructed missed its innovative leader. In an article in Fortune magazine, Myron Magnet sums up the Disney situation with a comparison: “University College, London, to memorialize its founder, Jeremy Bentham, keeps the nineteenth-century philosopher’s embalmed body fully clothed in a cupboard. Walt Disney Co. had memorialized its august founder by embalming itself.”

In 1984 there was somewhat of a shareholder revolt, which in turn led to an onslaught of potential corporate raiders. Walt’s nephew Roy, along with the Bass brothers, put Michael Eisner in the chief executive’s seat. Eisner, a former president of Paramount with a solid track record of successes, brought ideas back to Disney. Drawing on the vast treasury of Disney films and characters, Eisner revived Disney’s television presence, which promoted the Disney theme parks, which in turn sold Disney merchandise, which helped the Disney movies. Under Eisner, the Disney company again discovered its ability to experiment in new areas of entertainment.

Consider This: The exit of a strong founder may signal the beginning of the end. Smart companies will not languish for long but will find a new source of inspiration.

Submitted by Richard

 

[The Story Teller]

July 26
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Bill Murto of Compaq
​

“Happiness is in your mind and how you think about yourself and what you’re doing.”
—Bill Murto
​

Too often we have a view of success that is strictly monetary. Such a view can make one’s life a disaster. Success in anyone’s life is measured in terms of fulfillment, not money, and that fulfillment may come from a variety of accomplishments. Bill Murto made a dramatic decision about what he was going to accomplish in his life. After he had finished an M.B.A. in 1977, Murto accepted an entry-level position with Texas Instruments. In five years with TI he was able to involve himself in a variety of projects concerning computer technology. In 1982 he and two other TI employees, Rod Canion and Jim Harris, left to begin Compaq Computer Corporation. The IBM personal computer had already become a success, and the trio wanted to share in the growing market.

Within a year, Compaq had shipped its first PC, and that year’s sales volume reached $111 million. Among the hundreds of PC clone makers, Compaq has been the most successful. Murto bought a top-of-the-line Mercedes, a Tudor mansion, and everything else he wanted. But as his personal wealth grew, he found had to clarify his life’s priorities. Although he had acquired great material wealth, he felt a need to fulfill a service to mankind that was expressed through his religious faith. After five years with Compaq, Murto resigned to return to school to work on a degree in religion.

Consider This: Circumstances should not make choices for us—we should know our own priorities and make our own active choice about which path to follow.

Submitted by Richard