mrstickball on 01 April 2011
What about:
- John D. Rockefeller
- Robert Henry Dow
- Larry Ellison
- Sam Walton
- *edit* Mark Cuban
Those are just a few.
They didn't hit the gene lotto. In all of their cases, they used hard work and successful business practice to become billionaires. Yes, in some cases people have a good family history and background to get them to great heights (such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and such), but its not always the case.
This topic is interesting though. When I get the time, I actually have an outline for a book I want to write on the subject - the metrics of fame. Eventually, I'd like to research a lot of celebrities to see if their fame involved pure luck, or if there are solid, objective metrics that define many of them, and how it can apply to the average American.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
