Business Leaders

One of the most striking aspects of small business literature is that so much of it is comprised of stories. One finds only a limited amount of basic research, partly because so much of what we do is a seat-of-your pants, discover-as-you-go-along venture. There is no right path for any individual in any venture. Instead, starting and operating a small business is more a culture where stories are handed down, passing on wisdom from generation to generation. And these stories can serve as a guideposts as well as being an inspiration.

Small business entrepreneurs have been breaking new ground for many centuries. From the earliest inventors and explorers, entrepreneurs have been seeking new paths and new solutions for the world of business. Entrepreneurism was espoused as early as by Horace in ancient Rome and was certainly practiced by the Italian traders in late medieval Italy. The real rise of the commercial entrepreneur began, however, with the industrial revolution.

In the history of business there have been many people who have made an impact on the world of business as it is today. Not all have been corporate giants, but they have exhibited leadership in their field in some significant way. These are our real business heroes - our role models - our mentors indirectly through their stories.

Here are stories of past and present business leaders, and their words of wisdom. Reading about the challenges they faced and how they handled them can give us inspiration and help us face our enterprises more creatively.

Francis Bacon
English philosopher, statesman, and essayist, best known as an advocate and defender of the scientific revolution.

Bernard M. Baruch
American financier and presidential adviser.

L.L. Bean
Founder of L.L. Bean, a retail and catalog company, specializing in outdoor equipment and clothing.

Tim Berry
Founder of Palo Alto Software.

William F. Buckley, Jr.
An American author and journalist, who founded the prominent conservative political magazine National Review.

Andrew Carnegie
Businessman and philanthropist.

Dale Carnegie
An American writer and the developer of famous courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, public speaking and interpersonal skills.

Peter Drucker
Management theorist.

Thomas Edison
American inventor and businessman.

Marshall Field
Founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based chain of department stores.

B.C. Forbes
The founder of Forbes Magazine.

Henry Ford
Founder of the Ford Motor Company, who is credited with contributing to the creation of a middle class in American society.

Benjamin Franklin
An American publisher, journalist, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, statesman, scientist, librarian, diplomat, poet, musician, philosopher, economist, and inventor.

John Kenneth Galbraith
Economist.

William R. Hewlett
Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.

Eric Hoffer
American social philosopher.

Lee Iacocca
American industrialist.

Thomas Jefferson
An American statesman, political philosopher, revolutionary, agriculturalist and horticulturalist, land owner, architect, archaeologist, author and general Renaissance man. Third president of the United States.

Henry J. Kaiser
American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding.

Joseph P. Kennedy
A prominent United States businessman and political figure.

Charles F. Kettering
A farmer, schoolteacher, mechanic, engineer, inventor, scientist, social philosopher, and salesman.

Ray Kroc
Founder of McDonald's Corporation.

Stanley Marcus
President and chairman of the board of the luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, known for creating a retailing enterprise renowned throughout the world as the epitome of quality.

John Stuart Mill
An English philosopher and political economist.

Ken Olsen
An American engineer who cofounded Digital Equipment Corporation.

Laurence J. Peter
An educator and "hierarchiologist", best known to the general public for the formulation of the Peter Principle.

Adam Smith
A Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneering political economist.

Studs Terkel
A prize-winning United States interviewer, writer and radio broadcast personality, who is well known for his oral history interviews.

Thomas J. Watson
American industrialist and philanthropist, considered to be the founder of IBM.

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