I would be interested to hear 2thick's views but my experience:
Most of them dont give a f about what other people think of them, so they wear what they like, many therefore are disheveled. But clearly not all.
Most of the ones I know are far from fat but dont really lift maybe do triathlon or similar
They are sharp regarding what is important as opposed to big business people who are usually unsurpassed political operators
Many of them spend a lot of time on holiday and delegate day to day operations, ie they let their money work for them while focusing on what is key
They surround themselves with people who think similarly and get shot on the deadbeats, the type that can often hide out in large firms.
Guess you’re back under another name already?
Bottom line, if you want to be a billionaire, I’d say listen to what self-made billionaires have to say. If guys on getbig say different or say that the billionaire’s an idiot or whatever, they’re probably wrong.
He obviously owns a large amount of stock / options. That’s how managers and pretty much everyone else get wealthy – ownership. Not by opting for large cash bonuses and sitting on it or blowing it.
Steve Jobs, Lee Iacoca, and Richard Kinder are well known for taking $1 salaries and making their money off stock and options and bonuses based upon productivity. That’s the kind of manager you want running a company you invest in.
I personally wouldn’t invest in a company where the top management had little or no stock ownership, and I’d tend to get spooked if they were selling large blocks. I’d never invest in a company like GE that gives the CEO “tenure”.
At his level, I doubt he even knows or cares who cleans the toilets or landscapes the building – as long as these things are done, they probably don’t even enter into his mind. That stuff is almost always contracted out at most companies, at least here in the US.
When he speaks about hiring go-getters, the best, etc, he’s thinking about managers, top manager candidates, MBAs, engineers, CPAs, JDs, etc. It’s part of his fiduciary responsibility to shareholders to hire the best and the brightest and think about the company’s future and a succession plan.
Any CEO of a publicly traded company who is worth a shit is well aware that the company is bigger than he, and won’t likely let his ego and insecurity keep him from hiring the best people he can. He knows that the board and shareholders can bounce him out if he’s not the majority owner. And he’s no doubt thinking about the future stock price even after he’s sitting in a rocking chair and he still likely owns millions of shares.
It seems like those who are the richest self-made get there mostly either by starting, buying, or investing heavily in a company that is very cheap and becomes very valuable and profitable – usually becoming publicly traded. Or by big oil strikes on land where they own the mineral rights or are leasing and drilling them. Or by asset management. Or perhaps real estate if they can do really well on big deals and avoid losing their asses during bad times.
The American Dream can be summed up right here IMO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_HammRegarding appearances, a guy originally from my hometown who is a few years older than me co-founded a well-known tech company some 20+ years ago when he was still in college across the country. The company caught on when the internet was just getting going, and they went public. He’s long had a good 100 million shares, and is worth billions and is a brilliant guy. But you’d never know he’s one of the richest guys in the country - he’s physically very unimpressive, tends to drive relatively inexpensive cars that are many years old, and dresses like a bum unless his wife dresses him up.
