Sam Walton: How Curiosity and Humility Built the World’s Largest Company
The most important principles of retailing are quite simple: Know your customers and the role you play in their lives. Know your merchandise and its suppliers. Know your competitors. Respect each of those, plus your employees. Work hard to match the right customer to...
Magnanimous Merchant: Julius Rosenwald
In this American Originals series, we’ve recounted the life stories of men and women who created great inventions and enterprises. None of them had more energy and drive than the shy Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish menswear merchant from Springfield, Illinois. A high...
The Greatest Businessman in American History: Alfred P. Sloan, Jr.
Many management scholars consider Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as the greatest business leader in American history. If we exclude company founders, Sloan has few peers among those who led companies they did not found. After running a smaller company for twenty...
Ahmet Ertegun: America’s Greatest Music Man
Ahmet Ertegun did as much as anyone to shape the popular music that serves as the soundtrack for our daily lives. As the founder and leader of Atlantic Records for almost sixty years, he brought us artists from Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin to Crosby, Stills, Nash,...
