If The Shoe Fits: Selective Emulation
by Miki Saxon
A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.
If you heard only the following comment who would you think it’s about?
He was determined to succeed by any means necessary, subordinating questions of right or wrong to the good of his career and driving himself crazy with his hunger for power and control, his hypersensitivity to perceived threats to his independence and stature, and his overarching need to measure up.
Travis Kalanick? Howie Hubler? Parker Conrad?
Nope, none of the above.
What about this quote?
“It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standard of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer’s high privilege.”
Marc Benioff? Pierre Omidyar? Henry Ford?
Nope, none of the above.
Both the description and the quote are about the same man.
Someone lightly touched on at school, but not explored in any depth, as were those who held the same position at other times.
Certainly most of the information in the article KG shared was new to me and I’ll bet it would be new to most of you.
The person is Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States.
The book, published last year is “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times” by Kenneth Whyte.
Read the article (if not the book); you’ll find it very enlightening.
Then choose which parts of Hoover are worth emulating.
Image credit: HikingArtist
