OAK CONSULT LIMITED - Key Persons
Born in Hull, my home city, in 1903, Amy Johnson transcended the contemporary conventions of gender, class and education to become a true pioneer in a man's world at the time. Through a combination of brains, hard work and sheer determination, she earned her pilot's licence and became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930. She subsequently completed many path breaking flights such as England to Tokyo via Siberia and England to New York. Her bravery in making unaided flights made her famous and a role model for women pilots at a time when very few women learned to fly, let alone made arduous trips across continents.
Her life came to a tragic end in January 1941, when she mysteriously baled out of her plane into the icy waters of the Thames Estuary. There is still some mystery about the accident leading to her death, as the exact reason for the flight is still a government secret and there is some evidence that besides Johnson and co-pilot, a third person was also seen in the water and also drowned. Who the third-party was is still unknown. Johnson was the first member of the Air Transport Auxiliary to die in service.
Andy Murray, on the 7 th day of the 7 th month 2013, 77 years after the last British person to do so, became Wimbledon Men's Champion beating Novak Djokovic in 3 sets. Anyone, from any country, who watched this historic match can't deny what a tremendous feat of strength, determination, passion and belief this man from Dunblane in Scotland displayed.
Murray has now done the equivalent of the ‘4 minute mile' for British tennis. I predict that the impetus that Murray will bring to the sport now that he has smashed the false ceiling that a British person was unable to become champion will be enormous.
Why is Arnold Schwarzenegger on my list? Is he the best actor in the world? No. Is he the best politician or the best entrepreneur? Possibly not. Has he done some stupid things? Absolutely. What he does have, however, is Self-belief, Goals and Relentless Focus. 3 Guiding principles of Think Oak!
Schwarzenegger set himself a goal of being the best body builder the world had ever seen. He succeeded. He set himself the goal of moving to America and being in movies. He succeeded. And he set himself the goal of becoming Governor of California and he succeeded, twice and without any of these things, he's a self-made millionaire from his real estate and other businesses started long before he became a famous actor.
Through tireless focus, training, education, networking and sheer determination he has achieved everything he's set out to do. Not bad for a man born in war-torn Austria in the ‘40's, with few prospects.
Many people may not know who Ben Saunders is. Ben Saunders is the third in history to ski solo to the North Pole and holds the record for the longest solo Arctic journey by a Briton.
He is currently preparing to lead a two-man team to Antarctica, setting out to make the first return journey to the South Pole on foot. At 1,800 miles and four months, the Scott Expedition will be the longest unsupported polar journey in history and the first completion of Captain Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition.
I've had the privilege of meeting Ben, listening to his story, his experiences and sharing our passion of the outdoors.
To achieve what he has achieved takes a special kind of person. To have complete focus on a goal, a trust in your own abilities and the ability to build and trust the team of people who will help you achieve your goal.
Lead singer of The Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof KBE (Knight of the British Empire) is synonymous with the idea of using famous people, particularly musicians, to raise awareness and funds for the plight of desperate and hungry people in Africa and other affected parts of the world.
In 1984, moved by images of young children in Africa dying of starvation, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure united a "supergroup" of British musicians and singers which recorded the single, "Do They Know It's Christmas". It became the fastest selling single in UK history and raised over £8 million worldwide in funds for emergency aid to Ethiopia. Since then he has dedicated his life's work to hunger relief.
In 1985, building on the momentum of Band Aid, he organised the Live Aid concerts held in London and Philadelphia. In 2005 he organized the Live 8 concerts to launch Make Poverty History. Speaking on the events, he said;
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist whose revolutionary theory laid the foundation for both the modern theory of evolution and the principle of common descent by proposing natural selection as a mechanism. He published this proposal in 1859 in the book The Origin of Species, which remains his most famous work. A worldwide sea voyage aboard HMS Beagle and observations on the Galapagos Islands in particular provided inspiration and much of the data on which he based his theory.
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution based upon natural selection changed the thinking of countless fields of study from biology to anthropology. His work was extremely controversial by the time he published it and many during his time didn't take it seriously. Darwin's theory of evolution was a significant blow to creationism and notions of intelligent design prevalent among 19th century Europe.
Having the courage of his convictions, Darwin published his works at great personal risk to his credibility.
For me, Dame Anita Roddick was one of the first women CEO's that I'd heard of. She was the founder of The Body Shop, one of the world's most successful retailers of cosmetics and related products. She was also known as one of the most outspoken social activists in the business world. The Body Shop still adheres to the core values laid out by Roddick, who sadly died in 2007. Today The Body Shop has over 1,980 stores and more than 77 million customers in 50 different markets serving customers in over 25 different languages. Its success put Roddick's net worth at more than $200 million. In 2006, the company became an independently managed subsidiary of the L'Oréal Group.
From the outset, The Body Shop had a reputation for supporting social and environmental causes, thanks to Roddick's strong personal sense of social responsibility. After stepping down in 2002 from co-chairman, she spent 80 days of the year working as a consultant in her stores and used the rest her time to advance causes in campaigns against human rights abuses and exploitation of the underprivileged.
In addition to her extensive travels and speaking engagements, Roddick was one of the first celebrity entrepreneurs to take to blogging with a passion. Her site, AnitaRoddick.com, includes extensive commentary from Roddick on activism, politics, women and entrepreneurship.
For me, Roddick proves that you can be yourself in business and be successful. You don't need to be a chameleon and you don't need to change your personal values.
Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, his work has earned him numerous awards, including three Academy Awards for Best Actor, for his portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989), Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007), and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln (2012), a feat which makes him to date the only male actor in history to garner three wins in the lead actor category. Day-Lewis has also won four BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards to name a few!
Despite his traditional acting training, he is considered to be a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. He often remains completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedules of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health. He is known as being one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1998, with as many as five years between each role.
In a western world filled with people wanting to be famous and not wanting to work for it, Day-Lewis is an inspiration to those who respect hard work for their ‘art' and not seeking fame for its own sake.
In a way, I felt slightly fraudulent by having Beckham on this list. Until my two sons started playing football I had never watched a football match in my life. Obviously, I knew who David Beckham was, and knew that he was a great footballer and that he was married to a Spice Girl, but he'd certainly never inspired me in any way.
But in a number of ways, that has changed. Over the last few years, I've seen the inspiration that he has given a generation of youngsters to train hard and go for their dreams. I've seen a family man, who loves his country, be an ambassador for sport for UNICEF, one of the biggest personal brands on the planet with nearly 28 million Facebook followers, and built a huge personal fortune through his personal football salary and endorsements.
Eve Ensler is a Tony Award winning Playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of The Vagina Monologues, translated into over 48 languages and performed in over 140 countries, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway's Westside Theater and on London's West End and has been running for 11 years in Mexico City and Paris.
Ensler's experiences have inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. She has devoted her life to stopping violence, envisioning a planet in which women and girls will be free to thrive.
Florence Nightingale carried out pioneering work during the Crimean War (1853-1856) to improve the care of sick and wounded soldiers. She introduced women nurses into military hospitals, set up kitchens to provide suitable diets for the sick, provided recreational facilities for convalescents and improved the distribution of supplies.
Florence Nightingale is a true inspiration. She was a real leader, not only of nurses but of women, at a time when many things were almost impossible for women. She managed to get many changes by using statistics. She was one of the first people to use pie charts, to demonstrate simply that more soldiers in the Crimea were dying from infection than from their wounds. She was able to work on a broader canvas and we need that kind of inspiration for nurses today, about understanding the impact of people's lifestyle and emotions, as well as their physical needs.
Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in 1946 on the island of Zanzibar off the west coast of Africa. He grew to be the lead singer of one of the biggest selling bands globally of all time with over 300 million album sales - Queen.
Bohemian Rhapsody, written by Mercury, is thought by many people across the globe as being the best ever song written and is also considered by many to be the very first true music video created purely for promotion of a single. Freddie Mercury, both with Queen and with his solo work, was a pioneer of rock's video revolution.
Mercury was an idol to his fans, a consummate front-man, a rallying figure for those seeking the express themselves through his music, a rock star to the world and one of the true British cultural icons of the 20th century alongside the likes of David Bowie and John Lennon.
Following his death, Mercury's band mates founded the Mercury Phoenix Trust to raise awareness of AIDs and fight the virus across the world in his name.
As one of the Apple employees responsible for marketing the Macintosh computer in 1984, Kawasaki had a first-hand experience with the value of getting in on the ground floor of new ideas. Soon he would bring his evangelism for the Apple brand to the high-tech business world. He is the co-founder of Alltop.com, "an online magazine rack," and Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. A writer, speaker, and consultant, Kawasaki has also become a high-tech marketing guru. He has authored numerous books including: Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, The Macintosh Way and Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions - my personal favourite.
His latest book is APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur: How to Publish a Book.
Kawasaki is a social media giant and has inspired me to engage, listen and grow my network, sharing insight and good news. He's one of the reasons I started Think Oak! and started writing my first book.
Henry Ford is a name that is respected all around the world. He is known for many reasons but most commonly for his founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1903. For over 100 years Ford Motor Company has been one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. The impact that Ford had on the car industry was more than significant. But the car industry is not the only industry that Ford's innovative thinking touched. His ideas for the assembly line and mass production of inexpensive goods had an effect on a plethora of production industries around the world. His accomplishments should be considered incredible by anyone's standards.
On top of his obvious contributions to the car industry, Henry Ford helped to make huge advances in engineering of wood products, such as particle / chip board, helped to develop corn as a fuel source, such as ethanol, and helped develop potential uses for cotton. Ford also paved the way for millions of people to grill their food by being an instrumental in developing charcoal briquettes, under the brand Kingsford. On top of these advances, he also made contributions to sociology with studies, inspirational references and writings. His inventions touched, and continues to touch millions of people, all around the world and shape the way that both fuels and the way that we travel.
The best quality that can be seen in Henry Ford's life is the fact that he never lost sight of his morals, even when faced with criticism. Even in his wealth he remained humble and respected others. He treated people well, especially his workers. His workers were paid more than double of what workers at similar jobs were being paid during that time period.
An advocate for children's rights and welfare, she became an indispensable champion of gender equality both at work and at home, and a staunch defender of reproductive rights. It is no coincidence that her tenure as First Lady coincided with the passage of key policies for American women and children. In 1995 her declaration that "it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights," at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, electrified the world.
Her run for the president of the United States made the prospect of a woman as commander-in-chief seem not only possible, but inevitable. And in her tenure as secretary of state she has proven that she doesn't mind ruffling a few feathers, speaking out forcefully on women's rights. In her long and truly remarkable career, Clinton has been a role model to millions, an indispensable voice, and one of the most relentless advocates for women worldwide. In a recent speech in Toronto, Clinton said electing a woman president "would send exactly the right historic signal to girls, women as well as boys and men. And I will certainly vote for the right woman to be president."
A phenomenon of magic and wizardry was ignited when J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels were published. Although not an obvious choice for this A to Z for many, she certainly is an inspiration to me. Rowling has been a best-selling author, generating huge interest from a global audience. Furthermore, J.K. Rowling herself has been an inspiration to many people alongside her magnificent talent for writing. With her charitable spirit and courageous personality I feel that J .K. Rowling is a worthy candidate for this A to Z.
Rowling lived quite a traumatic life, losing her mother to multiple sclerosis at a young age. She graduated from the University of Exeter and in 1990 she immigrated to Portugal, where she taught English. It was at this stage in her life that she became romantically involved, marrying a Portuguese journalist, Jorge Arantes, and having a daughter in 1993. Unfortunately, this marriage was not very long-lasting and resulted in a divorce. Rowling and her daughter, Jessica, moved back to Scotland.
As with many authors, she had to overcome the difficulties of publishing her first book. In 1999, a small, low-key publisher offered to publish the book, unaware of the exceptional success that would become of this fictional tale. She went from ‘rags to riches' in under five years! The reaction to the books really exploded just before the release of the fourth book; ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' in 2000. This was noted as the fastest selling book in history at the time. She has now sold over half a billion books! Movies, merchandising, video games and a theme park followed. Rowling was involved heavily in all of them, vetoing ideas that were not true to the Harry Potter brand.
In October 2010, J. K. Rowling was named ‘Most Influential Woman in Britain'. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, and the Children's High Level Group.
Job Titles:
- Founder and CEO of Amazon
If you didn't know, Jeff Bezos is the Founder and CEO of Amazon, one of my favourite brands.
Bezos is the ultimate disruptor: He has upended the book industry and displaced electronics merchants. Now Amazon is pushing into everything from fashion retailing and feature-film production to iPad-worthy tablet manufacturing with the Kindle. Amazon even sells ultra-cheap database software for businesses. He's willing to take risks and lose money, yet investors have embraced him, pushing Amazon's share price up and up. And even as Amazon expands and experiments, Bezos remains zealous about delivering a good customer experience.
"We innovate by starting with the customer and working backwards," he says. "That becomes the touchstone for how we invent."
Job Titles:
- President
- President of the United States
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, is one of the most celebrated and idolised figures in American history and across the globe. Born into a wealthy, well-connected family, Kennedy was bred for a life in politics. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II-JFK earned several medals for his bravery-he ran for Congress and won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1946. Kennedy served in Congress for fourteen years-six in the House and eight in the Senate-and built a real name for himself in the Democratic Party. Kennedy launched a presidential campaign in 1959 defeating Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections in decades. Though his presidency was characterized by a mixed bag of blunders (the Bay of Pigs), successes (the Cuban Missile Crisis), and indiscretions (affairs with numerous women), Kennedy's charisma was a constant and his vision of American progress was undeniably inspiring. Although John F. Kennedy's tenure as commander-in-chief was tragically short-only two years and ten months passed between his inauguration and his assassination in 1963-and his accomplishments in the White House relatively modest, he is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential presidents of all time.
As the youngest person ever to be elected president, he charmed the nation with his charisma, injecting new energy into the federal government at a turning point in U.S. history. Kennedy ushered in the 1960s, a decade of great activism and social change, with an idealistic message of empowerment: "ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country." Through his actions and speeches, Kennedy captured the hearts and minds of an entire generation of young people, urging them to participate in civic life, engage with the world, and fight for equality. Even though his presidency did not yield a wealth of concrete political accomplishments, his legacy in American politics has been profound. By issuing a mandate for public service and inspiring a nation to take on all the challenges of a new era, JFK helped set the stage for the major social, cultural, and political changes of the past half century.
The Athens Olympic Games was the pinnacle of a long international athletics career for Dame Kelly Holmes. Her Double Olympic Gold triumph changed her life forever and fulfilled her second childhood dream of becoming an Olympic Champion.
Her first dream was joining the British Army which she realised at the age of 17; Kelly turned her back on an early athletics career to forge a successful military career and become a Training Instructor in the British Army. She was later recognised for her services to the Military when she received her MBE after almost ten years' service. However, she was decided to return to the track in 1992.
The build-up to the Athens Olympic Games was the first year in seven, that Kelly wasn't injured and she made the brave decision to double up in the 800m and 1500m, and the rest is history. She finished her illustrious career with twelve major championship medals from the Olympics, Worlds, Commonwealth Games and Europeans.
As well as her athletics achievements, she ranks one of the proudest moments of her life as receiving her Damehood from the Queen in March 2005. Since retiring from international athletics, Kelly has started a new chapter in her life in the business world; establishing her own company Double Gold and her charity the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust. She has also been active in raising the profile of school sport up the political agenda. Kelly became National School Sport Champion in 2006 for three years and pioneered the creation of National School Sport Week. She also led the creation of Girls Active set up with the Youth Sports Trust to capture the interest of disengaged female teenagers.
She also fulfils speaking engagements to the corporate industry sharing her stories of overcoming adversity, setbacks and desperation to finally achieve her lifelong dreams. In her limited spare time, Kelly devotes time to supporting her chosen charities the Laureus Sports Foundation, Hospice in the Weald and Sport Relief, alongside her own charity.
Ken Blanchard (born in 1939) is an American author and management expert. His book The One Minute Manager (co-authored with Spencer Johnson) has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37 languages. Blanchard is the "chief spiritual officer" of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Marjorie Blanchard, cofounded in 1979 in San Diego, California. In addition to being a renowned speaker and consultant, Ken Blanchard also spends time as a visiting lecturer at his alma mater, Cornell University, where he is a trustee emeritus of the Board of Trustees. Born in New Jersey and raised in New York, Ken Blanchard received a Master's degree from Colgate University, and a Bachelor's and PhD from Cornell University.
Few people have influenced the day-to-day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. A prominent, sought-after author, speaker, and business consultant, Dr. Blanchard is universally characterized by his friends, colleagues, and clients as one of the most insightful, powerful, and compassionate individuals in business today. Ken is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world and is respected for his years of ground-breaking work in the fields of leadership and management.
Blanchard has inspired me, probably more than any other author. He has written over 40 books, my favourite ones being; Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization, Full Steam Ahead! Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Company and Your Life, Raving Fans a Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service , Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations and Whale Done! : The Power of Positive Relationships.
I have given a copy of ‘Gung Ho' to every manager that has worked for me and if you haven't read it, you must!
Google has become as much as a part of our culture as it has a leading site for finding information. It's even become a verb - I google, you google, they google! Offered in multiple languages, Google - and its products and services - has become a part of our every day lives. Google has expanded dramatically since it was founded in 1998. What is now a multi-billion dollar company, with thousands of workers and offices, originally began in a very different place: a dorm room with just two employees. One of these staff members was Larry Page.
With a love of computers that began at age six, Larry Page went on to develop his passion and talent at The University of Michigan, where he graduated with honours and a bachelor's degree in engineering. Larry then went on to the ph.D. program in computer science at Stanford University, where he met future business partner Sergey Brin.
Since co-founding Google in 1998, Larry Page has won numerous honours and awards, including being named a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow. Page was also awarded the Marconi Prize in 2004 - an annual award recognizing advancements in communications. Page moved into his role as President of Products in April 2001 and continues to run the company along with partners Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt.
Page has never swayed from his desire to provide us easy access to all of the world's information. His belief in the power of the internet to deliver information instantaneously has led him to a high status on the Forbes Richest American's list - a $15 billion dollar status to be exact.
As a co-founder of one of the most famous brands on the planet, Larry Page has become an inspiring entrepreneur who has helped his business to grow from a dorm room business run by two students to the multi-billion company it has come to be today.
The fame of Da Vinci's (1452 -1519) surviving paintings has meant that he has been regarded primarily as an artist, but the thousands of surviving pages of his notebooks reveal the most eclectic and brilliant of minds. He wrote and drew on subjects including geology, anatomy (which he studied in order to paint the human form more accurately), flight, gravity and optics, often flitting from subject to subject on a single page, and writing in left-handed mirror script. He ‘invented' the bicycle, airplane, helicopter, and parachute some 500 years ahead of their time.
If all this work had been published in an intelligible form, da Vinci's place as a pioneering scientist would have been beyond dispute. Yet his true genius was not as a scientist or an artist, but as a combination of the two: an ‘artist-engineer'. His painting was scientific, based on a deep understanding of the workings of the human body and the physics of light and shade. His science was expressed through art, and his drawings and diagrams show what he meant, and how he understood the world to work. I'll leave you with 3 of my favourite Da Vinci quotes:
My one claim to fame is that I'm actually distantly related to this person. He was my great grandfather's cousin.
Mohandas Gandhi (1869 - 1948k) - Known as ‘Mahatma' (great soul), Gandhi was the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, and is widely considered the father of his country. His doctrine of non-violent protest to achieve political and social progress has been hugely influential.
He studied law in London, England, but in 1893 went to South Africa, where he spent 20 years opposing discriminatory legislation against Indians. As a pioneer of Satyagraha, or resistance through mass non-violent civil disobedience, he became one of the major political and spiritual leaders of his time.
In 1914, Gandhi returned to India, where he supported the Home Rule movement, and became leader of the Indian National Congress, advocating a policy of non-violent non-co-operation to achieve independence. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. He struggled to alleviate poverty, liberate women and put an end to caste discrimination, with the ultimate objective being self-rule for India.
Following his civil disobedience campaign, he was jailed for conspiracy for 6 years. In 1930, he led a landmark 320 km/200 mi march to the sea to collect salt in symbolic defiance of the government monopoly. In 1946, he negotiated with the Cabinet Mission which recommended the new constitutional structure. After independence (1947), he tried to stop the Hindu-Muslim conflict in Bengal, a policy which led to his assassination in Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic. Gandhi was a true leader who inspired millions with his vision, his charisma and his beliefs.
Mark has over 25 years experience in the Telecoms, Technology and Healthcare sectors, working for businesses in both the FTSE 100 and 250 in the UK.
Throughout his career Mark has developed new methodologies for launching new products and services, driving business and brand change as well as creating new and improved ways of working. He is a Practitioner in Quality Management (ISO9001), Business Continuity Management (ISO22301), a Certified Information Security Management System Lead Implementer (ISO27001) and a qualified quality management system auditor.
He has held multiple senior positions at both O2 and the KCOM Group and has worked extensively with Deloitte, KPMG, Accenture, IBM and IMPAC during his career.
Mark has a passion for people, business and success. His business blog, Think Oak! has a huge following from over 150 countries across the world.
Mark lives in North Lincolnshire, and in his spare time is a keen amateur photographer and walker.
Martin Luther King Jr was one of America's most influential civil rights activists. His passionate, but non-violent protests, helped to raise awareness of racial inequalities in America, leading to significant political change. Martin Luther King was also an eloquent orator who captured the imagination and hearts of people, whatever their colour or religion.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood" - Martin Luther King
This immortal speech is still quoted verbatim today, taught in schools and inspires people young and old, from all over the world to believe in dreams. I've even tailored it and used it for some of my projects! You can watch a video of the full speech here.
Mother Teresa was born, 1910, in Skopje, capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Little is known about her early life, but at a young age she felt a calling to be a nun and serve through helping the poor. At the age of 18 she was given permission to join a group of nuns in Ireland. After a few months of training, with the Sisters of Loreto, she was then given permission to travel to India. She took her formal religious vows in 1931, and chose to be named after St Therese of Lisieux - the patron saint of missionaries.
On her arrival in India, she began by working as a teacher, however the widespread poverty of Calcutta made a deep impression on her; and this led to her starting a new order called "The Missionaries of Charity". The primary objective of this mission was to look after people, who nobody else was prepared to look after.
For many years, Mother Teresa and a small band of fellow nuns survived on minimal income and food, often having to beg for funds. But, slowly her efforts with the poorest were noted and appreciated by the local community and Indian politicians.
In 1952, she opened her first home for the dying, which allowed people to die with dignity. Mother Teresa often spent time with those who were dying. Some have criticised the lack of proper medical attention, and refusal to give painkillers. But, others say that it afforded many neglected people the opportunity to die knowing someone cared.
Muhammad Ali is one of the most famous boxers of all time. From the very beginning, he took his training seriously. He trained six days a week. On schooldays, he woke early in the morning so that he could go running and then would go workout at the gym in the evening. When the local gym closed at 8 pm, Ali would then go train at another boxing gym. Concerned about what he put in his body, Ali stayed away from junk food, alcohol, and cigarettes so that he could be the best boxer in the world. His conversion to Islam and draft evasion conviction surrounded him with controversy and even exile from boxing for three years. Despite the hiatus, his quick reflexes and strong punches helped Muhammad Ali become the first person in history to win the heavyweight champion title three times. At the lighting ceremony at the 1996 Olympics, Muhammad Ali showed the world his strength and determination in dealing with the debilitating effects of Parkinson's syndrome.
An early proponent of positive thinking, Napoleon Hill was a bestselling author, an advisor to presidents, a motivational speaker and, to this day, an inspiration to millions.
I wasn't alive when Neil Armstrong took his first step onto the surface of the moon in July 1969, but I have read about the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Space programs and visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
That ‘one step for man' represented the work of over 400,000 people, over a decade, spending in excess of $100bn to get there…and more importantly back.
It is famously said that in 1969, during one of the press briefings in the NASA command centre in Houston, Texas, the reporters were waiting for the NASA officials when they noticed a janitor with a broom. A reporter asked the janitor what his job at NASA was. The janitor replied - "I help put a man on the moon".
In fact, it was President Kennedy, who set the goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth" by the end of 1960s, in his address to the joint sessions of congress in May 25th, 1961. "In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon - if we make this judgement affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there," Kennedy said.
Nelson Mandela was born in 1918, in South Africa. Becoming actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement in his 20s, Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies.
In 1961, Mandela, who was formerly committed to nonviolent protest, began to believe that armed struggle was the only way to achieve change and subsequently co-founded an armed offshoot of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and guerrilla war tactics to end apartheid. In 1961, Mandela orchestrated a three-day national workers' strike and was arrested for leading the strike the following year and sentenced to five years in prison. Then, in 1963, he was brought to trial again. This time, he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offenses, including sabotage.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment from prison workers. However, while incarcerated, Mandela was able to earn a Bachelor of Law degree through a University of London correspondence program.
Upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela immediately urged foreign powers not to reduce their pressure on the South African government for constitutional reform. While he stated that he was committed to working toward peace, he declared that the ANC's armed struggle would continue until the black majority received the right to vote.
Oprah Winfrey is a self-made CEO worth about $2.7 billion. By most accounts, she's the greatest black philanthropist in American history and the most influential woman in the world.
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973) is one of the most well-known and prolific artists of all time, painting over 20,000 pieces in his lifetime. Starting from a young age he always had immense artistic talent, so much so that his father, also an artist, put down his paintbrush and declared he'd never paint again. Picasso is probably most famous for co-founding the Cubist movement with Georges Braque, but the great thing about Picasso is that within his immense body of work, he developed so many different painting styles while still keeping his own distinctive voice - you know a Picasso when you see one.
"Whenever I wanted to say something, I said it the way I believed I should," he explained. "Different themes inevitably require different methods of expression. This does not imply either evolution or progress; it is a matter of following the idea one wants to express and the way in which one wants to express it."
I don't think it's because I'm British that I am inspired by Queen Elizabeth II. I'm pretty sure that if I was American, Indian, Canadian, Australian or from the Phillipines, I would have the same view.
Throughout numerous periods of great change in Britain and the World, the Queen successfully carried her political duties as head of state, her role as head of the Commonwealth, the ceremonial responsibilities of the sovereign and a large annual programme of visits in the UK, as well as many foreign tours.
The Queen also introduced numerous reforms to the monarchy. In 1992, she offered to start paying income and capital gains tax. She opened her official residencies to the public - including Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle - in order to finance their maintenance. She supported ending the rule of male primogeniture, which now means the eldest child can succeed to the throne, regardless of gender. She also supported lifting the ban on anyone in the line of succession marrying a Catholic.
I hadn't heard of Randy Pausch until last year, when I read the book - The Last Lecture, and subsequently watched the lecture itself:
Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1997, he taught at the University of Virginia. He was an award-winning teacher and researcher, and worked with Adobe, Google, Electronic Arts (EA), and Walt Disney Imagineering, and pioneered the non-profit Alice project. (Alice is an innovative 3-D environment that teaches programming to young people via storytelling and interactive game-playing.) He also co-founded The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon with Don Marinelli.
In September 2007, he stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.
Randy's lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come.
Richard Branson is no ordinary person. Whether you are starting out as an entrepreneur or you are a seasoned business person like Larry Page founder of Google, Branson has something to offer for everyone. Figurehead of 150 or so enterprises that carry the Virgin name, with a personal wealth estimated at nearly $3 billion and his own island, he has followed a personal dream of making the most of his life. He still holds the record as fastest to cross the Atlantic ocean by boat. He still hopes to be first to circle the globe in a balloon.
He has no giant corporate office or staff and few if any board meetings. Instead, he keeps each enterprise small and relies on his magic touch of empowering people's ideas to fuel success. When a flight attendant approached him with her vision of a wedding business, Richard told her to go do it. He even put on a wedding dress himself to help launch the publicity!
"It all comes down to people," he remarks in an interview with David Sheff of Forbes. "Nothing else even comes close." He writes to them all, all 5,000 Virgin employees, a chatty letter once a month from his paper notebook, and invites them to write to him or call him with their problems, ideas and dreams. They do…and new Virgin successes are born.
Seth Godin has one of the most-loved marketing blogs on the internet, has penned more than a dozen best-selling books and launched a social site that attracts more than 50 million viewers per month. Yet he makes little effort to cultivate a following, preferring to be discovered virally. Those who do find him stick around for his uncomplicated entrepreneurial mantras, which boil down to this: Make something happen. I've read, or more correctly, listened to all of his books and I find his work inspirational. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but he makes me think, he makes me think differently and more importantly he inspires me to act.
“Icarus. The original myth had two parts. Daedalus said to his son, ‘I fashioned these wings for you. Two rules. Don't fly too high, or the sun will melt the wax. But, more important, son, don't fly too low. Because if you fly too low, the water and the waves will surely weigh down the wings, and you will die.' We've left out the second part of the myth. We don't say to people anymore, ‘Don't fly too low.' All we do from the time they are 4 years old is warn them against hubris. We have created this industrially led structure that says: How dare you.”- Seth Godin
For those of you that are regular visitors to my other blog Life Spirit, you'll know of my love of nature. One person, probably above all others, has been a constant inspiration for that passion is Sir David Attenborough.
The scope of Attenborough's work now spans 6 decades! So what can we learn from this inspirational person?
When Sir David narrates his documentaries, his passion for the animal kingdom is obvious. His love for anything with fur, feathers, fins or flippers and bringing fantastic footage of them into our homes has sustained his career for decades. His enthusiastic tone makes his one of the most recognisable voices in the world.
One of the great legacies of Attenborough's work is the increased exposure to the importance of protecting our environment.
Sir David Attenborough is a genuinely inspirational person whom I have learned a great deal from over the years. Not only about the marvellous creatures that we share this planet with, but about doing work that you're passionate about, making a difference and the fact that there's no use-by date on greatness.
Sir Isaac Newton contributed significantly to the field of science over his lifetime. He invented calculus and provided a clear understanding of optics. Born in England in1642, Isaac Newton attended Trinity College in Cambridge. While there, he took interest in mathematics, optics, physics, and astronomy.
His most famous work came with the publication of his "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), generally called Principia. In it, he determined the three laws of motion for the universe. Newton then went on to calculate the universal law of gravity. These laws helped scientists understand more about the motions of planets in the solar system, and of the moon around Earth.
His surviving writings and letters reveal a person with tremendous powers of concentration, the ability to stand long periods of intense mental strain, and the ability to remain free of distractions. In changing from pursuit of answers to the question "Why?" to focus upon "What?" and "How?," he prepared the way for the age of technology.
Sir Roger Bannister, CBE (born in 1929) is an English former athlete best known for running the first mile in less than 4 minutes.
In the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres, but did not win the medal he expected. This humiliation strengthened his resolve to be the first 4-minute miler.
I did consider not putting Steve Jobs, the deceased CEO of Apple (as if I need to tell you who he is!) on this A to Z. To some, Jobs' life has revealed the importance of sticking firmly to one's vision and goals, no matter what the negative impacts on employees or business associates might be. To others, Jobs serves as a cautionary tale, a man who changed the world but at the price of alienating almost everyone around him.
Jobs' philosophy was to make products that were at the intersection of art and technology, intuitiveness and design. His openness to being inspired allowed him to live his philosophy, and in turn inspire others.
Jobs has left an amazing legacy of fantastic achievements and great products and he created the ultimate customer connection that others can only hope to come close to achieving. Jobs' art (that's what his products are!) and his vision and his success have inspired me. His treatment of people, partners and suppliers, less so.
Arguably the most successful inventor in human history, Thomas Edison held 1,093 U.S. patents, and hundreds more in other nations. His most famous work includes the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, the alkaline storage battery, and a forerunner of the motion picture projector.
The first great invention developed by Edison in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. The first machine that could record and reproduce sound created a sensation and brought Edison international fame. Edison next undertook his greatest challenge, the development of a practical incandescent, electric light. The idea of electric lighting was not new, and a number of people had worked on, and even developed forms of electric lighting. Edison's eventual achievement was inventing not just an incandescent electric light, but also an electric lighting system that contained all the elements necessary to make the incandescent light practical, safe, and economical. In 1882, the first commercial power station went into operation providing light and power to customers in a one square mile area; the electric age had begun. The success of his electric light brought Edison to new heights of fame and wealth, as electricity spread around the world.
By the 1890s, Edison began to manufacture phonographs for both home, and business use. Like the electric light, Edison developed everything needed to have a phonograph work, including records to play, equipment to record the records, and equipment to manufacture the records and the machines. In the process of making the phonograph practical, Edison created the recording industry. While working on the phonograph, Edison began working on a device that, “does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear”, this was to become motion pictures. Edison first demonstrated motion pictures in 1891, and began commercial production of “movies” two years later. However, many people became interested in this third new industry Edison created, and worked to further improve on Edison's early motion picture work. There were therefore many contributors to the swift development of motion pictures beyond the early work of Edison. By the late 1890s, a thriving new industry was firmly established, and by 1918 the industry had become so competitive that Edison got out of the movie business all together.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while working as a software engineer at CERN, the large particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. With many scientists participating in experiments at CERN and returning to their laboratories around the world, these scientists were eager to exchange data and results but had difficulties doing so. Tim understood this need, and understood the unrealized potential of millions of computers connected together through the Internet.
Tim documented what was to become the World Wide Web with the submission of a proposal specifying a set of technologies that would make the Internet truly accessible and useful to people. In April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web technology would be available for anyone to use on a royalty-free basis.
Today, Vincent van Gogh is considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. He completed more than 2,100 works, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. Several of his paintings rank among the most expensive in the world; “Irises” sold for a record $53.9 million, and his “Portrait of Dr.
His life is well documented, as is his mental health. Aside from his art, which I love – especially Starry Night Over The Rhone and Café Terrace at Night he was a deep thinker.
“I tell you: you must not be afraid of making mistakes. People think they will become good by doing no harm, but that's a lie. Such a frame of mind leads to stagnation and mediocrity.”
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Walt Disney and his vision has inspired generations of children and adults alike to believe in belief, myself included.
He was the man who stepped up when the British Empire needed him most. He held many positions during his long career and was an accomplished public servant. Churchill entered the Royal Military College of Sandhurst, and graduated with honours. He later saw action in Cuba, India, Egypt, Sudan, the front lines of World War I, and even took part in one of the last British cavalry charges in history. When he turned twenty-five, Churchill was elected to Parliament, and began his career as a statesman in the House of Commons. He went on to serve as First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Prime Minster. In his private life, Winston Churchill was an avid reader and scholar, painter, author, journalist, and war correspondent. Historians widely attribute Churchill with being “the greatest statesman of the 20th century.” Churchill was an effective leader and statesman because of his tremendous ability to inspire people; his unique strategic insight; his relentless passion; and his imperturbable personality.
Just months into Xi Jinping's tenure as Chinese Communist Party leader, one thing has become eminently clear – in both style and substance, Xi Jinping is different.
Xi has cut a more affable and caring figure in his public appearances. These changing optics have been accompanied by new rules that prohibit “empty rhetoric” at official meetings, and bans on floral arrangements, red carpet, or grand receptions during state inspection tours. Netizen reaction has been positive. Some might dismiss this as a trivial shift in personality with little consequence for Chinese governance.
But Xi's innovation is not his charisma per se. He is distinctive in that he is the first Chinese Party head to truly understand that authoritarian politicians have something to learn from their democratic counterparts. Western politicians may get flak for perceptions of pandering or placing electoral viability ahead of common interest, but one thing at which democratic politicians unquestionably do better is connecting and empathizing with ordinary people.
Of course it remains to be seen whether Xi will be able to capitalize on his favourable persona. It will require more than popular support to defeat the many entrenched interests that stand in the way of genuine reform. But Xi the politician is off to a promising start, and if he succeeds, he may be only the first of a new generation of Chinese leaders who can speak directly – and compassionately – to the people they govern.
Zig Ziglar, who has died aged 86 in 2012, was an American “motivational philosopher” famous for his “Success Rallies” at which he brought his audiences such gems as, “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street”; “The person who won't stand for something will fall for anything” and “The inspiration of today can be drowned out by the traffic jams of tomorrow”.
After service in the US Navy towards the end of the Second World War, Ziglar attended the University of South Carolina, but dropped out to work as a door-to-door kitchenware salesman. He struggled to begin with, but one day met a company executive who told him he could be the national sales champion if only he believed in himself and set himself goals.
Soon Ziglar began winning sales awards, and eventually he became the company's youngest divisional supervisor. As he was promoted through the ranks, he began giving motivational talks at church and Rotary Club meetings and later held sales training demonstrations for kitchenware sales teams. In 1968 he moved to Dallas to work as the vice-president of a car accessories company. When the firm went bankrupt two years later he started his own company.
Ziglar lived a very devout life; devout to multiple concepts essential to happiness and prosperity. He itemised these concepts, put them into practice, and succeeded with them. Afterwards, he spent the entirety of his life sharing these life changing concepts to the world. He dedicated everything to passing this wisdom on. Ziglar embodied the professional salesman.