Changing The Way We Do Things

Jeffrey Bezos saw an opportunity in the internet. While there were many mail order businesses, there was virtually none with regards to books. Having a large catalogue of books to order from would be too large to mail. This huge information could easily be placed on a website where people could order their books and have them delivered to their homes. There would also be no need to mail such a long list of books to individual homes; a good way to utilize the internet.

His employers were not keen on the idea so like other great entrepreneurs he ventured out on his own. The major book sellers already had an electronic data base of the books they offered so it was simply a matter of putting all this information together and letting the public be aware of it. This was the start of Amazon.com which is one of the largest internet shopping sites in the world.

The company started out in a two bedroom house and officially launched its site on July 16, 1995. It quickly gained many customers and the company made constant improvements to website.  Bezos emphasized market share even at the expense of profit. There were skeptics but his approach has now been proven correct with more profits coming in due to a large market share.

With its success in books the company expanded to electronics, DVDs, clothing and any other merchandise that could be sold through the internet and delivered to homes. What Bezos and Amazon.com   had done was create a change in the way people purchased items. People used to go to stores (and the vast majority still do) to buy something, now they can go to the internet, order online and wait for the item to be delivered to their doorstep.

Bezos also launched Kindle in 2007. This allows you to order a book and download it to a tablet device and read it from there. You can now have so many books in one sleek device, which is way better than having to carry 100 books around. Through Kindle, Amazon is now selling more books through electronic download than having a hard copy delivered physically.

Bezos helped change the way we purchased items, now he’s also changing the way and the medium of reading a book. These are significant changes.

Reaching The Top

Indra K. Nooyi was good at academics. Not everyone takes an undergraduate degree in chemistry, physics, and math; these aren’t exactly everyone’s favorite subject. She also managed to get an M.B.A. degree from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, India. At the time it was only one of two schools in India that offered such a degree.

There were signs that Nooyi was far from the ordinary since she also was part of an all-female rock band in her college days. This was something not really done by daughters coming from conservative middle class Indian families.

She worked for a time in India, but then decided to do something else not quite common during her time; study abroad in America. In 1978, she was accepted by Yale University and got a graduate degree in public and private management. From there she held various jobs in well-known large corporations.

Her talent was spotted by executives at Pepsi who then hired her in 1994 as chief strategist. This lay the opening for her to eventually become the company President and CEO in 2006 and Chairman in 2007. She reached the top position by restructuring Pepsi, spinning –off or divesting in some businesses and acquiring new ones. A good number of these moves involved multi-billion dollar transactions.

The change she has instituted at Pepsi has impacted in a global manner; Pepsi is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. Net revenues have hit $66 billion dollars on the back of 22 different brands that make more than $1 billion dollars each in sales.  Quakers, Tropicana and Gatorade are among its well-known brands.

The guitar-playing college girl from India has made it to the top of the global business world.

Success in Amarillo

Oil and gas and ranching share two aspects in common: the state of Texas and entrepreneur and business leader Joe Batson. A lifelong resident of Amarillo, Mr. Batson kept his hand in the family businesses, including an oil and gas concern and Coldwater Cattle Company, while pursuing other interests. Active in politics as a youth, he worked on the Lyndon B. Johnson re-election campaign for President and represented his district at the Democratic National Convention. He also pursued endeavors in the banking and communications sectors.

A successful business leader, Joe Batson performs every task he undertakes to the best of his ability, whether it be rubbing down a horse or leading a corporation. The approach has brought him returns in a number of areas. He became the youngest pilot to fly solo in a helicopter and has won national awards as the founder and executive officer of the advertising firm Berneta Communications, Inc., named after his grandmother, who also earned a license to fly helicopters. In addition, the businessman earned Honorary Texas Ranger status, bestowed by the Governor, and the Golden Nail Award for his contributions to and support of the performing arts.

Today, Joe Batson leads the Coldwater Cattle Company as President and still participates in the oil and gas business. Berneta Communications continues to flourish, and he assists several organizations. Joe Batson sits on the Board of Directors of the Potter County Industrial Development Center and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin. A lifetime member of the Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation, he also serves on the Research Council of The Scripps Research Institute. He continues to flourish in his diverse roles as a cowboy, businessman, community leader, and philanthropist.

The Global Man

One thing about success is, it’s not birth-discriminate. You can be born rich, you can be born poor, you can even born blind and still be successful. There is one person who has been very successful with his career as a businessman. Unlike those rags to riches stories he wasn’t exactly born poor.

Born on June 15, 1950, in India Lakshmi Mittal came from a family in the steel business.  He headed the international division of the business in 1976, when he had falling out with his family.

He then decided to go on his own. While family conflict is not something we hope for in this case it set the course for Lakshmi to set out his own destiny.  Steel had been viewed by many as a dying industry particularly in the U.S. There were many manufacturers of steel and countries like South Korea also could produce them at a lesser cost

Lakshmi bet his fortune on steel though.  Through stringent management, a good dose of financing and with enough size and scale he has been able to make his business profitable. When we talk of scale it has to be in terms of global scale, thus Lakshmi has a large global operation, with steel mills and mines located all over the world. His company ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steelmaker.

The size and money involved in the steel business sometimes include having to deal with governments and Lakshmi has had his share of bribery allegations but has managed to stay out of trouble. Lakshmi has actually received many awards and recognition for his accomplishment in the steel industry. Some of his awards are “Steelmaker of the Year” by New Steel in the U.S. in 1998; the Dwight D Eisenhower Global Leadership Award in 2007; and the “Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2008. He also sits in the boards of many prestigious institutions.

His net worth dropped by a staggering $6.9 billion dollars in 2011 due to a 40% fall in ArcelorMittal share prices. That amount would already make anyone one of the richest men in the world. Being the global man that he is, Lakshmi’s net worth was still $19.2 billion making him Forbes Magazine’s 6^th richest man in the world.

She Shouldn’t Have Made It

There are many who are born in poverty and broken homes and wind up living the same kind of life.  One woman broke through this vicious cycle and gained international prominence.

This woman is Oprah Winfrey; born in poverty to a single mother who unfortunately due to her own hardships was not able to provide her daughter with the security and comfort a child needed. Initially raised by her grandmother, Oprah learned to read and went to church.

Things turned for the worse when she started living with her mother in Milwaukee at the age of six.  Her mother had to work long hours and had her own personal difficulties.  Oprah experienced child sexual molestation and rape. At the tender age of 14 she became pregnant. Her child died at birth.

It was when she lived with her father who was a disciplinarian that her life got back on track. She landed a spot in a radio show that became popular because of her.  Over the years more openings finally led to the creation of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985, which only a year later became the number one talk show in national syndication.

She put up Harpo Productions that eventually allowed her to own and produce her own talk show, in 1988. This was a historical first for a woman.  Her talk show which promotes healthy living is widely viewed and very influential, like any book she recommends becomes a best seller.

She is credited with helping Barack Obama win the Democratic presidential nomination and the U.S. Presidential elections in 2008. She has her own Oprah Winfrey Network.  A billionaire and a generous philanthropist; against tremendous odds she made it.

For Women

It is a woman that best understands the need of women in general. This is why a top executive at Citigroup founded another line of business within the company to cater to the specific needs of women.

Women & Co. was started by Lisa Caputo knowing the role women played in society. She notes that women are the household caregivers, with many responsibilities to juggle. They are busy making everyone else a priority that they no longer have time to make themselves a priority.  Women should also prioritize their own financial welfare as a form of empowering themselves.  Women & Co. would help women with their financial needs and take them on a course to financial security. This enterprise has been very successful for Citibank since it accounts for over $30 billion in asset under management.

Lisa Caputo’s career path is far from the ordinary. She has worked at both the public and private sector and has held prominent positions in each of these sectors.  Born in 1965, she became the deputy press secretary of then First Lady Hillary Clinton when she was only in her late 20’s. She has served in other capacities with Democratic politicians through over a decade working in the public sector. She has also been an analyst on political issues appearing in many TV programs.

Her private corporate life is just as impressive. She was the vice president for global communications and synergy at Disney Publishing Worldwide from 1998 to 1999. She founded Women & Co. in Citigroup in 2000 and served as the CEO until 2010. This made her a prominent figure in women leadership. She has held other key positions at Citigroup as well.

While having made great accomplishments at Citigroup in 2011 she moved to The Travelers Companies, Inc.  which is into property casualty insurance. Her position there is as executive vice president for marketing and communications.

Not yet in her 50’s there’s still many productive years ahead of her. Judging by her past accomplishments this top executive seems destined to make more significant contributions in the world of business.

Proving A Point

John C. Bogle did his research and came with the conclusion that actively managed funds could not do better than the market. With this belief he established the first index mutual fund in 1975 known as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund.  Just the previous year he started The Vanguard Group, Inc.

To make a long story short he became very successful at what he did. Under his guidance The Vanguard Group became one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world. Today the Vanguard Group manages about $1.7 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets. It has more than 170 funds to offer.

While others provide a more fast-paced approach to investing, Bogle’s philosophy was more of the buy and hold type. He has a very strong follower base that believes in his investing philosophy and actually calls themselves Bogleheads and have gone to the extent of having their own website.

Born in 1926 in Montclair, New Jersey he retired as CEO of his company in 1996 and gave up the Chairmanship in 2000. He now keeps himself busy with the Bogle Financial Markets Research Center (a think tank) and is also an active blogger.

There are some now doubting his philosophy and say that he did not have all the available data when he made his conclusion about index investing. His best rebuttal would be his achievement of having established a company now managing over a trillion dollars in assets.