Today's Reading: 26 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs
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A 2005 Inc. feature, I found it fascinating, even when uneven. Particularly recommended is Richard Branson’s writeup — rarely does one read so inspiring a portrait, an instant eemadge.
Here’s a compact index of each of the 26 entrepreneurs.
- Martha Stewart: because she took one for the team
- Richard Branson: because he’s game for anything. In fact, everything.
- Michael Dell: for being brilliantly straightforward
- Jim Sinegal (Costco): because who knew a big-box chain could have a generous soul?
- Diane von Furstenberg: for staging an elegant comeback
- Julie Azuma: for offering hope and help to the parents of autistic children
- Fritz Maytag: for setting limits
- Ray Kurzweil: because he is Edison’s rightful heir
- Craig Newmark (Craigslist): for putting the free in free markets
- Jack Mitchell: because his family business makes an art of customer service
- Frank Robinson: for whipping an entire industry into shape
- Mark Melton: for giving immigrants their shot at the American Dream
- Michelle Cardinal & Tim O’Leary: for rewriting the rules for husband-and-wife teams
- Mike Lazaridis: because someone had to stand up for all those frustrated engineers
- Trip Hawkins: for still scrapping
- Warren Brown: because only in America will someone quit a secure job as a lawyer to start a bakery
- Muriel Siebert: for being a notable first with a worthy second act
- Chuck Porter: for verging on reckless
- Katrina Markoff: for setting a completely unreasonable goal for her business
- Barry Steinberg & Craig Sumerel: for showing the power of the peer group
- Victoria Parham: for serving as a mentor to military spouses
- Tom LaTour: for staying at fleabag hotels so that we don’t have to
- Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams: for creating a true comfort zone
- Izzy & Coco Tihanyi: for kicking sand in the face of conventional wisdom
- Tony Lee: for saving 16 jobs, including his own
- Rueben Martinez: for simultaneously building a business and nurturing Latino culture