” has christmas become a commercial occasion nowadays?”
Richard Branson: the extravagant entrepreneur
The success story of Andrew Carnegie
History shows that Andrew Carnegie was, at one time, the richest man in the world, but he wasn’t born that way. His story is a true American rags to riches tale of a Scottish immigrant without a penny to his name rising to become a millionaire industrialist and this country’s “King of Steel.” How did he do it? How did a poor immigrant, who got his first job working in a textile mill for about $1.20 per week, rise to become the richest man in America and then the world? He invested.
While working for the Pennsylvania Railroad under a superintendent named Thomas Scott, Carnegie learned about the American stock market. He was making about $35.00 per month at that time and invested his extra money in stocks. As he was paid dividends on those stocks, he invested further. Soon he had the funds and the opportunity to go into business for himself and found success in the steel industry.
One might argue that Carnegie’s success story doesn’t mean much today. After all, Carnegie died almost a hundred years ago. When he was a young man, the nation was young as well. There were opportunities then that don’t exist today. No one can mimic the success of Andrew Carnegie in today’s world. Phooey. While it’s true that the world is very different today than it was back in Carnegie’s day, and his story is rare (if it was so easy for everyone to become a multi millionaire, they’d be everywhere), there is much in Carnegie’s story that we can learn from and emulate today.
The nature of investing and investing well is really not much different today than it was when Carnegie started buying stocks. By following his example, we can also turn pennies into dollars, dollars into hundreds of dollars, and so on. By seeing the stock market as a long term investment opportunity and not a “get rich quick scheme,” people in today’s world can also take command of their destinies just like Carnegie did all those years ago. Will everyone become powerful captains of industry and be among the richest people in the world? Probably not. But there is no reason why each and every one of us can’t take control of our own financial lives and start building today for a more secure tomorrow. That is the spirit of what Carnegie did and it is alive and well today.
An article from srinisaripalli.com
The Entrepreneurship Week
“Entrepreneurial spirit is about creativity, optimism, street smarts. In other words, playing McGyver, but in business.” Tony Hsieh.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Manu Cornet drew these Org Charts of some of the biggest tech companies.
Should Truth In Advertising Dictate A Photoshop Disclaimer?
via Seth Matlins: An Open Letter to Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and 7th Avenue
He makes a good point:
On Madison Avenue, Magazine Awards, Clios, Effies and Webbies are handed out to marketers for making the audience feel and act. So you’re OK taking the credit and responsibility for influencing attitudes and behaviors sometimes but not others?
I get it — that’s human nature. We all like trophies, puppies, and good news. But now, I’m openly asking you to consider and address statistics like this: 80% of women feel worse after seeing a beauty ad then they did before they saw it. 80%.
In believing too much in rationality, our contemporaries have lost something.
—Krzysztof Kieslowski. (via criterioncorner)
The tide is turning on Bashar Assad. As the violence inside Syria intensifies, governments in the region and beyond are turning against an increasingly beleaguered president.
Due to rising population, coupled with increasing demands by the agriculture and energy industries (often referred to as the water-food-energy nexus), global demand for clean water will outstrip supply by an average of 40 percent by 2030. While this reality poses grave risks to thousands of communities, it is also the driver of a daunting, and often confusing, economic dilemma which businesses must prepare for. It’s time for companies operating in the many dry regions around the world to equip themselves with the tools and mindset they need to navigate this new normal.
—Excerpt from a worrisome new McKinsey report [PDF]charting the future of water (via curiositycounts)
(via curiositycounts)
