rubio93
It’s easy when considering your own career that there are certain set ways to get ahead in the working or professional world and it can sometimes seem you are being boxed in by the traditional way of doing things. But especially these days there are so many routes to success, let’s have a look at a few figures.
Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc is a particularly interesting example of someone who didn’t make their fortune on their own invention or production but rather was someone who took an idea of another business owner and found a unique way of marketing it. That business was McDonald’s and Ray Kroc saw the advantages of the McDonald brothers “Speedee Service System” but realised the owners were not exploiting the commercial possibilities. He is a controversial figure as the McDonald brothers and himself were ultimately involved in legal battles for many years over the profits and legal ownership resulting in the McDonald’s eventually being bought out and claiming they had been promised ongoing profit shares but that this never materialised. His story has since been made into a Hollywood movie starring Michael Keaton.
Richard Branson
Richard Branson wasn’t the typical success story as he was not an academic success at school and never attained a university or college degree, however he has ran countless business ventures going way back to the 1960s. He is famous for being a known risk taker stating that “Don’t be embarrassed by failures, learn from them and start again.” Which could say that he promotes a trial and error approach.
Michelle Mone
A great example of a self-made woman, Michelle has had numerous achievement ranging from being the youngest head of marketing ever at company Labatt’s Brewers to launching the Ultimo Bra company and made millions this way. She has subsequently been made Lady Mone being awarded a life peerage in 2105 and now sits in the House of Lords
Mike King
Again it’s not always important to start with acceptance to the highest educational institute straight from school and we can see the example of Mike King, heavily involved in one of the biggest cultural construction projects in recent years, The Kelpie statues at Falkirk. Mike, a civil engineer who studied at Napier University starting out with an HND, you might ask what is an HND, but it’s a 2 year qualification that allowed Mike to go on to further educational achievements, culminating in an MBA and subsequent professional success.
Helen Bonfils
Helen Bonfils is an extremely important figure as she is the first women to be owner and publisher of a national newspaper in the Denver Post which she inherited following her parents deaths. This could be seen as unusual not because she inherited it from family but that as a woman chose to run the paper herself rather than pass it on to an employed publisher or simply sell the paper. She was also a known philanthropist founding a blood bank; the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, which ultimately would become the largest blood bank west of the Mississippi and following a change name is still operating today, which is an impressive legacy.
