INSPIRATIONAL-STORIES

 

 

Google is one of  the most renowned company of the world. Many individuals from all across the world dreamt to work here.

Approximately over 3 million applications are submitted here, however only few of them are able to match the criteria of Google.

Similarly, back in 2004, a guy named Sundar Pichai applied in Google & fortunately got hired. 

Currently, this guy is serving as a Chief Executive Officer of Google.

So today, we will give our detailed glance over his in-depth biography, in which we will observe that how this man from Middle Class Family of India turned out to become a CEO of one of the largest companies of the world.

EARLY LIFE & EDUCATION:

Sundar Pichai was born on 10th June 1972 in Madurai, India. He belonged to a Tamil Speaking Family. His father was an Engineer & mother was a Stenographer. Sundar completed his initial schooling from Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School. Moving forward, he studied his XII from Vani Vani School, which is situated in IIT Madras. After this, he accomplished to attain a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. Additionally, Sundar also managed to complete his Masters in Material Sciences from Stanford University. Lastly, he concluded his education by obtaining MBA degree from Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.

CAREER:

STEPPING IN:

At first, Sundar was hired in Applied Materials for Engineering & Product Management. After that, Sundar moved to McKinsey & Company for Management Consulting.

JOINING GOOGLE:

In 2004, Sundar Pichai joined Google. Here at Google, Sundar was responsible for Product Management & Innovation Effort of Google Client's Software Products. He look after the development of Google Chrome, Chrome OS, Gmail, Google Maps, VP8, WebM, & etc. His biggest achievement was the launching of Google Chrome in 2008, that helped him to earn a lot of recognition.

BEING THE CEO:

On 10th August 2015, he was nominated for being the next CEO of Google & eventually in December 2019, Sundar was designated as the CEO of Alphabet & its subsidiary Google. 

 

We all have heard about Walmart, which is the most popular retailer corporation in entire world. It has more than 10,500 retail stores & clubs in 20 countries. This corporation makes around $611.3 Billion annually.

However, we do not know about the history of Walmart, that how the son of a poor farmer was able to establish such a great venture across the globe & how he became the richest person of the United States.

Let's dive into the interesting biography of Sam Walton, who was the founder of Walmart.

EARLY LIFE & EDUCATION:

Sam Walton was born on 29th March 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, United States. His father was a farmer & due to impoverish financial conditions, his family continuously migrate from one small town to another for several years. Eventually, his family settled at Columbia, Missouri where he completed his schooling from David Henry Hickman High School. Moving further, Sam pursued Bachelors Degree in Economics from Trulaske College of Business, which is situated in University of Missouri. During his student life, Sam was involved in small jobs to support his family economically. These small jobs include, selling milk, selling magazines subscriptions as well as delivering newspapers.

CAREER:

STEPPING IN:

After graduating from the university, Sam joined J.C. Penny as a Management Trainee, however he resigned from his job in 1942 for joining American Military to participate in World War II.

JOINING MILITARY:

In 1942, at the age of 24, Sam joined US Army Intelligence Corps, & soon he rose to the designation of Captain.

STARTING THE FIRST STORE & ITS FAILURE:

In 1945, Sam resigned from the military & he purchased a Ben Franklin Variety Store in New Port, Arkansas by taking a loan of $20,000 from his father-in-law, as well as by investing $5000 from his own savings. He was determined to sell good quality goods at cheaper price, as a result of which he was able to attain a great success & in the tenure of 3 years, his sales rocketed from $80,000 to $225,000. Unfortunately, in 1950, the lease of the store get expired & due to the no-renewal clause, Sam had no way except for leaving the store. 

A FRESH START:

Sam was not the person, who can easily give up, instead he was eager to start everything from the scratch. For this, he setup a store in Bentonville, Arkansas. This time, he signed 99 year lease & named his store as "WALTON'S FIVE & DIME". As, Sam was searching for new ideas to improve his sales, so he came across the idea of Self-Service, which tripled his income in less than a year. Through his extreme genius, he became owner of 16 stores by 1962.

PROCEEDING TO WALMART:

During this time, Sam got a great idea to build big stores in small towns with discounted price on goods. To execute this idea into real, he mortgaged his house, borrowed a massive amount of money & opened a store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962, which was named as Walmart. He implemented superior strategies to boost the sales, which include opening the store till late hours as well as facilitating customers with free spacious parking lots. To ensure 1 day delivery, he located his warehouses near to the stores. Furthermore, to reduce the cost of goods, Sam started to purchase the products directly from manufactures, that led to the drop in prices.

SAM'S CLUB:

Sam started his wholesale clubs, which aimed small business owners, who wanted to buy the products in bulk.

DEATH:

Due to Sam's tireless hard-work, he was able to earn a whole lot of recognition, as well as between 1982-1988, he became the richest person of the United States. 

On 5th April 1992, due to Multiple Myeloma (TYPE OF BONE MARROW CANCER) Sam passed away in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

Microsoft, is one of the company which is enlisted under the category of Top 100 Best Companies of the World.

Approximately, 2 million candidates apply for Microsoft every year, however only few of them are selected out of it. This is because, the acceptance rate of Microsoft is less than 2%.

This proves us that, Microsoft only hires those people who have a great command over their skills, as well as those who are curious to learn new things & are passionate to face challenges during their journey.

Likewise, today we will be poring into the biography of Satya Nadella, who joined Microsoft back in 1992 & gradually rose to the designation of CEO due to his competency, efficiency, determination & dedication.

EARLY LIFE & EDUCATION:

Satya Nadella was born on 19th August 1967 in Hyderabad, India. His father was an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer & mother was a Sanskrit Lecturer. He completed his initial education from Hyderabad Public School & then pursued Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology. After this, Satya did his Masters in Computer Sciences from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Additionally, he completed his MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

CAREER:

STEPPING IN:

Satya at first joined Sun Microsystems as a Member of its Technology.

JOINING MICROSOFT:

In 1992, Satya Nadella joined Microsoft & he majorly worked on the development of Cloud Computing as well as on one of the largest cloud infrastructures. He steadily rose from one designation to another, which include from Executive Vice President of Cloud & Enterprise Group to the Corporate Vice President of Business Solutions & Search & Advertising Platform Group. Moving further, Satya was designated to the post of Vice President of Business Division & in March 2007 he was posted as a Senior Vice President of Research & Development for Online Services Division. Proceeding further, Satya secured the position as President of Server & Tools Division in February 2011.

BEING CEO OF MICROSOFT:

Eventually, observing the dedication of Satya, on 4th February 2014, he was announced as the new CEO of Microsoft. During his tenure, Satya displayed some outstanding results, which are truly commendable. Likewise, regardless of industrial competition, he emphasized to work with companies, such as Apple, IBM, Dropbox & Salesforce. Moreover, he joined Linux foundation as a Platinum Member, as well as made some very beneficiary purchases, which include acquisition of LinkedIn Professional Network for $26.2 Billion, GitHub for $7.5 Billion, Mojang for $2.5 Billion, & Xamarin. Crossing the successful path further, Satya even promoted office culture embedded with learning & growth. As an outcome of Satya's decisive behavior & long-term planning, he was able to tripled the Microsoft Stock by September 2018 with an annual growth rate of 27%.

ENGAGEMENT WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:

Besides serving as a CEO of Microsoft, Satya is engaged with other organizations too. He served The Business Council U.S for 2 years (2021-2023) as its Chairman. Furthermore, he is currently being associated with Starbucks as its Board of Directors. Moreover, he is also affiliated as Board of Trustees with University of Chicago as well as with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

We all have seen the fantabulous products of LVMH, the world's leading fashion group, prominently known for its luxury goods & we might have also heard that the company struck the revenue of 79.2 Billion Euros in 2022.

However, we are not aware with the endeavor of Bernard Arnault, who under his ambitious planning, intensified the growth of this corporation. 

Today, we will have deep insights of the life of Bernard Arnault, who due to his tireless hard-work was able to achieve sky rocketing success.

EARLY LIFE & EDUCATION:

Bernard Arnault was born on 5th March 1949 in Roubaix, France. His mother was a pianist & father was the owner of Ferret Savinel, a Civil Engineering Company. He completed his initial education from Lycee Faidherbe & moving further he pursued his engineering degree from Ecole Polytechnique, one of the leading engineering institutions of France.

CAREER:

STEPPING IN:

After graduating in 1971, Bernard Arnault worked in his father's company, Ferret Savinel, & from 1978 till 1984, he held the operations of the company as its President. 

PROGRESSING TO BOUSSAC SAINT FRERES:

In 1984, he heard that French Government is searching someone to acquire Boussac Saint Freres Empire. By the assistance of Lazard's Freres Senior Partner, Antoine Bernheim, Bernard was able to take over Financiere Agache & he accomplished to held the acquistion of Boussac Saint Freres. After acquiring the empire, he sold all assets of Boussac Saint Freres except for Christian Dior & Le Bon Marche. Initially, the company suffered, however by 1987 it was profitable again.

A GIANT STEP TOWARDS LVMH:

In 1988, Bernard bought 24% Equity of LVMH for the value of $1.6 Billion & further increased the shares by 13.5% for $600 Million. This bold move of Bernard, made him the largest stakeholder of the company. By 1989, he again took a very signature step by gaining total control over 43.5% Stakes along with 35% Voting Rights for $500 Million. Due to the rising issues, he ousted Henry Racamier from Board of Directors to avoid dismantlement. On 13th January 1989, Bernard was elected as the Chairman of Executive Management Board. 

THUNDERING GROWTH:

Bernard Arnault thundered the growth of LVMH through his commendable plans. In 11 years, annual sales & profits augmented by the factor of 5, as well as the market value rose by the factor of 15. 

In 1993, he acquired Berluti & Kenzo, as well as bought LaTribune, which was sold to LesEchos for 240 Million Euros due to fruitless results. Moving further, Bernard continuously kept on expanding his empire by purchasing Guerlain, Loewe, Marc Jacobs, Sephora, Thomas Pink, Fendi, DKNY, La Samaritaine, & Emilio Pucci.

In 1999, LVMH tower was built in New York City under the supervision of Christian De Portzamparc.

Bernard accumulated 5% Stakes of Gucci & upon being noticed, he rose them to 34.4%. To confine him from adding up the shares, he was proposed for Board Representation, which he denied. As a consequence of this, the matter was dragged into legal ruling & it eventually sorted out when LVMH sold all the shares of Gucci as per the profit of $700 Million.

Till here, Bernard was not limited, instead he widened his company by taking over Chateau Cheval Blanc through the assistance of Albert Frere & he also held the acquistion of Chateau d Yquem.

Besides this, he even invested in web companies like, Boo.com, Liberty surf, Netflix, & etc.

In 2007, Blue Capital announced that Bernard jointly owned Carrefour too.

In 2008, Arnault once again took a very daring step, by entering into the Yacht Business. He bought Princess Yacht for 253 Million Euros, as well as bought Royal Van Lent.

In addition to these experiences, he also served 1MDB Fund as its member of Board of Advisors from 2010 till 2013.

Arnault invested in 50.4% shares of Bulgari for $5.2 Billion, further he also invested $641 Million to establish L Capital Asia.

Plus, he involved in the joint venture with Marco De Vincenzo by attaining 45% stakes.

In 2016, DKNY was sold to G-III Apparel Group & in 2017, Christian Dior Haute Couture was purchased.

By the end of 2017, sales recorded boosted up to 42.6 Billion Euros, which marks 13% increase as compare to the previous year

Last but not the least, after great tensions, finally he purchased Tiffany at slightly reduced price of $16 Billion.

The list of activities clearly displays, that Bernard popped out this venture with a great determination, as a result of which LVMH became the largest company in Euro Zone with respect to market capitalization.

BEING THE RICHEST ACROSS THE GLOBE:

In 1999, after tireless hard-work, Bernard finally turned out to be the richest person in fashion surpassing Amancio Ortega of Zara. Additionally, in 2019, 2020 & 2021, he was enlisted as the richest individual of the world for a short span of time. Luckily, from April 2023 to May 2023, he was again nominated as the richest individual.

The most prominent thing in any component is its foundation, which marks clear difference between a skilled & an unskilled mindset. A skilled mindset always emphasize to create a perfect foundation, as well as simultaneously endeavor on other features too, whereas an unskilled mindset does not consider to ameliorate the base of an object.

Similarly, Steve Jobs, the Co-Founder of Apple, possessed the skilled mindset, who always aimed to provide best quality, that ultimately led to the intensification in his products.

EARLY LIFE & EDUCATION:

Steve Jobs was born on 24th February 1955 in San Francisco, California to a Muslim Father & Catholic Mother. Shortly after the birth, he was adopted by Paul & Clara Jobs due to religious conflicts between maternal & paternal families. Paul Jobs mainly worked as a Machinist. By the age of 10, Steve got deeply involved in electronics, as a result of which he had a great friendship with engineers, living in his neighborhood. Initially, he went to Monta Elementary School till 4th Standard. Since, Steve was an optimistic learner, he skipped 5th Class & was directly admitted to 6th Grade in Crittenden Middle School, however there he was bullied, as a consequence of which he was shifted to Cupertino Junior High School. Here, he successfully completed his primary schooling. Thereafter, Steve studied at Homestead High School to pursue his further studies. By the time in High School, he involved in Hippies Culture, due to which he grew long hairs as well as started to consume drugs. After graduating from Homestead High School, he got admission into Reeds College, where just after the 1st semester, he ended up dropping out.

BLUE BOXES:

Steve Job's friend, Steve Wozniak designed Blue Boxes, which were used to generate tunes required for manipulation of telephone network, that allows free long distance calls. Upon suggestion of Jobs, the boxes were sold out profitably, which was equally divided between both of them.

VISIT TO INDIA:

In Mid-1974, Steve Jobs went to India to visit the Ashram of Neem Karoli Baba for spiritual uplift. On this journey, he was accompanied by his friend, Daniel Kotke. Unfortunately, upon reaching the Ashram, they found the Baba passed away. Due to which, they reached the Ashram of Haidakhan Babaji by trekking up the dry river bed. Seven months later, Steve returned to America with a huge change in his appearance, such as his head was completely shaved.

RETURNING TO ATARI:

Before starting the journey to India, Steve was hired at Atari. Upon returning back to America, he resumed his job, & was assigned to compose a circuit board for arcade game. The design of Steve Jobs was refined by his friend, Steve Wozniak. Atari even offered them $100 for reducing each TTL chip from the board, & to the surprise of Atari's Engineers, Wozniak reduced the chips count to 45. However, some of the missing features were added later by Atari. 

BIRTH OF APPLE:

In 1976, Wozniak completed the design of Apple I & upon the suggestion of Jobs, they both setup Apple Company along with Ronald Wayne, who played the role as an Administrative Overseer. Initially, the operations were held from Job's bedroom, which were lately shifted to garage. At that moment, Jobs planned to manufacture bare printed circuit boards for selling them to computer hobbyists for $50 each. To fund the first batch, Jobs sold his Volkswagen Van & Wozniak sold his HP Scientific Calculator. After this, a Computer Retailer purchased 50 fully assembled Apple I units for $500 each.

As an outcome of this profitable product, in 1977 Jobs & Wozniak invented Apple II. During the designing of this computer, both of them had a heated argument over expansion slots, however the matter got settled by agreeing upon the opinion of Wozniak for having 8 expansion slots. This product of Apple became one of the 1st highly successful mass produced micro-computers in the world.

Moving further, in 1980, Apple III was released. This computer failed due to many manufacturing faults, which included excessive heat issues, chips coming out of sockets, as well as real time clocks were also not working.

After this 1st failure, in 1983, Apple Lisa was introduced, & it was also a huge commercial failure due to high prices, insufficient software, as well as unreliable Apple File ware floppy disks.

In addition to this, Jobs launched Macintosh at De Anza College. This launch was so hyped-up, that Macintosh Engineer narrated the event as "Pandemonium". Whereas, the impoverish performance & limited range of software availability, ultimately led to a rapid decline in the popularity of the product.

Thus, these three loses majorly affected the company's hierarchy, especially the Steve Jobs.

RESIGNATION FROM APPLE:

As a consequence of Macintosh's failure, the relations between Steve Jobs & Apple's CEO, John Sculley got tensed, due to differences in views of one another. Sculley attempted to leave Steve powerless by proposing for reorganization plan, which was about to remove him from Macintosh Group & to put into the charge of New Development. In response to this bold act, although Jobs had prepared an idea to dismiss Sculley from the company, however as it was leaked, so he was confronted by many other officials of the company. Eventually, on 17th September 1985, this vulnerable situation led Steve to resign from the company.

NeXT Computers:

After resignation, Jobs commenced his new venture, NeXT Computers. In 1990, the company first introduced technologically advanced computer, known as NeXT workstations for $9,999. As the prices were too much hiked up, they did not met the potential of market. As the company's products did not put up to the mark of company's agenda, so it derived the company to transition towards software development. This transition helped company to victoriously earned the profit of $1.03 Million in 1994. Additionally, in 1996, the company also launched the framework for the Web Application Development, known as Web Objects. 

GREAT JOURNEY WITH PIXAR:

In 1986, Jobs funded $5 Million to Graphics Group, which was later named to Pixar & Steve Jobs is even enlisted as one of the founders of this firm too. The 1st ever film produced by Pixar in collaboration with Disney was Toy Story, which attained a great warm feedback from the viewers. During Job's life, many other tremendous movies were produced, including, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Finding Nemo, Cars & etc. In 2003-2004, the contract between Pixar & Disney was about to get expired, so at that moment, Steve Jobs & Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner tried to negotiate for renewal, which did not last for long & even Jobs also announced not to deal with Disney again, however as Bob Iger replaced Eisner, so he tried to mend the relations with Pixar. For this, discussions were opened up between both organizations & finally in 2005, Iger as well as Jobs announced the acquistion of Pixar by Disney. Following confirmation of the deal, Steve Jobs became the single largest stakeholder of the company by holding approximately 7% of the stocks. In 2011, upon Job's death, all these stocks were handed over to Steven Paul Jobs Trust, which was headed by Job's wife, Laurence Jobs.

RETURN TO APPLE:

In February 1997, Apple purchased NeXT for $400 Million, as well as brought Steve Jobs back. When Gil Amelio was drove out of company, so Jobs was made as an interim CEO. To channelize Apple towards profitability, Jobs suspended many projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, & Open Doc. Moreover, he even altered the licensing program for Macintosh by augmenting their prices to prevent manufacturers from creating its clones. Besides this, the operating system NeXTStep was also revolutionized into Mac OS X & even new products were introduced, likewise, iMac, iPod, iPad, iPhone or MacBook. Moving ahead, Apple also started Computer Take Back Campaign to recycle e-waste. In 2000, at Macworld Expo, Jobs was officially declared as the permanent CEO of Apple & under his keen supervision & supreme aspirations, today Apple is standing in the proud list of top 10 companies of the world, with annual revenue of $394.3 Billion as of the report of 2022. 

DEATH:

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with Cancer & his health was disastrously leaning down day by day. To offer complete rest to his soul, Steve resigned on 24th August 2011 & positioned Tim Cook as his successor. Finally, on 5th October 2011, the mastermind of Apple, Steve Jobs passed away in Palo, Alto, California.