Top Visionaries Who Changed The World
My rating
5 / 5
Self-Purchased copy
Author
George Ilian
Publisher
Jaico Publishing Hpuse
Genre
Self-Help
Number of Pages
355
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Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes…the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
– Steve Jobs
About The Book
This book is a must-read if you want to start thinking like a winner. You must learn from those people's successes and failures at the top of their fields today or those who have been pioneers in the past. This book is a concise model written by George Ilian, an author of 18 books, which will help you know some world leaders intimately.
The Book Review
Their quintessential rags-to-riches American stories will, without a doubt, inspire you. George Ilian has done an excellent job putting together this compilation. He shares stories of their childhood, upbringing, breakthroughs, and consistent milestones conquered. The author hasn’t just flattered them in his documentation; he has also listed out their negatives and bad habits and shed light on every aspect of their life. He mentions three attributes every entrepreneur shares – a mindset of grabbing every opportunity, the acceptance of risk, and subsequent fearlessness to failure, independence, and control over their business.
Takeaways from the book
What I learned from this book are the commonalities among all these stories that the author highlighted. All these entrepreneurs started with nothing. But all of them were willing to take risks. Every one of them had unwavering confidence in their abilities. None of them pursued money; they pursued the idea of helping others. Wealth was just a by-product of their success. And they found their greatest support and encouragement in the family.
All of these visionaries were driven, passionate, tenacious, and persistent. And most of them started building their life after a personal tragedy. They made gold out of every opportunity given to them.
There are also lessons to be learned from these leaders after they achieved their success: you need to diversify into multiple businesses to have a strong foothold. Also, your business needs to change based on technology and societal changes and trends.
The Visionaries
Top Visionaries Who Changed The World features life and business lessons from the following 10 American greats of our times:
Steve Jobs
Born: 24th February 1955 in San Francisco.
Parents: Adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.
Companies Owned: Apple, NeXT, Bought Pixar and then sold it to Disney
Most Important Life Lesson: Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Books Written: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Books Recommended: Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe. Be Here Now, by Ram Dass
Jack Ma
Born: 15th October 1964 in Hangzhou.
Companies Owned: Alibaba
Most Important Life Lesson: Giving up is the greatest failure. Resilience is not the ability to bounce back from hardship – it’s the ability to fight through it. Learn from out and come out of it a better person.
Books Written: Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built
Books Recommended: Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, Built to Last by Jim Collins
Bill Gates
Born: 28th October 1955 in Seattle.
Parents: William H. Gates. Mary Maxwell Gates.
Companies Owned: Microsoft, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Most Important Life Lesson: Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Books Written: The Road Ahead, How To Avoid a Climate Disaster, Business @ The Speed of Thought.
Books Recommended: Bill Gates is a voracious reader who reads at least 50 books a year. He believes in learning throughout his life. His favorite - Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
Elon Musk
Born: 28th June 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Parents: Errol and Maye Musk.
Companies Owned: PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity.
Most Important Life Lesson: I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.
Books Written: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
Books Recommended: Addicted to science fiction, but also non-fiction like the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down, Foundation series.
Mark Zuckerberg
Born: 14th May 1984 in New York.
Parents: Dentist Edward Zuckerberg and Psychiatrist Karen Kempner.
Companies Owned: Facebook, Internet.org
Most Important Life Lesson: You need to be excited about what you create. If an idea doesn’t thrill you, it won’t thrill anyone else either.
Books Written: Mark Zuckerberg: A Biography of the Facebook Billionaire by Eric Jones
Books Read: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Genome by Matt Ridley
Oprah Winfrey
Born: 29th January 1954 in Kosciusko. Mississippi.
Parents: Vernita Lee and unmarried teenage housemaid.
Companies Owned : OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, the queen of talk shows who run the popular The Oprah Winfrey Show, Harpo Productions, oprah.com.
Most Important Life Lesson: Real Integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.
Books Written : Reading with Oprah : The Book Club that Changed America, The Oprah Magazine, The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Potrait in Her own Words, Make The Connection: 10 steps to a better body and a better life, Journey to Beloved, What I know for sure, The Life you want.
Books Recommended: Eckhhard Tolle’s A New Earth, Elie Wiesel, The Color Purple, Their Eyes were watching god Zora Neale Hurston’s Novel.
Richard Branson
Born: 18th July 1950.
Parents: Edward Branson and Eve Branson.
Companies Owned: Virgin Records, Virgin Communications, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Holidays and BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting), Virgin Comics.
Most Important Life Lesson: You might not hit your targets and make money as quickly as you want, but hang in there through the times and eventually you will find the opportunity that makes you a profit. If you drop out too soon, you will never reach that point.
Books Written: Losing My Virginity: How I survived, had fun, and Made a Fortune doing business my way. The Virgin Way: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead
Books Recommended: Long Walk to Freedom, an Inconvenient Truth, the Revenge of Gaia. Historical Titles like: Stalingrad, Mao: The Unknown Story.
Tony Ribbons
Born: February 1960 in Hollywood, California.
Parents: Biological father walked out, mother married baseball player Jim Robbins and Tony was adopted.
Companies Owned: TONYROBBINS.com
Most Important Life Lesson: Learn to sell yourself and learn to sell your products.
Books Written: Unlimited Power, Awaken the Giant Within, Money: Master The Game, Love & Passion: The Ultimate Relationship Program
Books Recommended: 'As A Man Thinketh' by James Allen,
MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING BY VIKTOR FRANKL,
'The Happiness Hypothesis' by Jonathan Haidt
Warren Buffett
Born: August 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Parents: Howard Buffett and Leila.
Companies Owned: Berkshire Hathaway, which is the partial or whole owner of Coca Cola, Wrigley’s Nestlé’s etc.
Most Important Life Lesson: Never give up searching for the job that you’re passionate about. Try to find the job you’d have if you were independently rich. Forget the pay. When you’re associating with the people that you love, doing what you love, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Books Written: Buffett by Roger Lowenstein, Warren Buffett on Business, Back to School: Question & Answer Session with Business Students, The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America
Books Recommended: The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham, ‘Poor Charlie’s Almanac: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger’
Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Born: 30th July 1947 in Thal, Austria.
Parents: Gustav Schwarzenegger, Aurelia Jadrny.
Titles Owned: Mr. Universe, World champion Body Builder, Hollywood Actor, Governor of California.
Most Important Life Lesson: Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Books Written: Arnold: The Education of a Body Builder, Total recall (autobiography), The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.
Books Recommended: The Churchill Factor, Boris Johnson
Conclusion
This book will stimulate your thinking and give you ideas to emulate in your life and business. It will inspire you and push you to need to get creative and brilliant at whatever it is you do.
Happy Reading!
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