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Patricia Russo : The Former CEO of Lucent Technologies

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The 21st century has led many changes in the way this world works. It has given rights to people to work and live the way they want to. Today, women are given equal respect and status, as the men in the working class, encouraging the women empowerment. Such a wave of change brings in huge positive impact on the society as a whole. Women in every business, are doing a great job and contributing as much a man do as a businessman. One example is that of the woman who served as the CEO of Lucent Technologies – Patricia Russo.

Early Life

Born on 12 June 1953, in Trenton, New Jersey, Russo’s father was a physician. She has five siblings, of which two suffer from different disabilities. Patricia learnt the importance of being kind and caring from her those two siblings.

She went to the Lawrence High School and graduated in the year 1969. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad, during her high school. Further, she went to the Georgetown University, to study Political Sciences and History, and pursue a bachelor’s degree in it. After graduating from the university, she landed up with the sales and marketing team at IBM, as her first job. Her eight years job at IBM, helped her develop a customer-centric perspective, which she would apply in her future management style. She was also one of the only women, working in the sales and mentioned that people did not believe in her in the early years.

Career

Russo left IBM, and joined AT&T, in 1981, working in the marketing department. During that time, she quickly rose to higher ranks and made important contributions in the human resources, operations, and strategic planning departments. In 1989, Russo completed an Advanced Management Program from Harvard University, and AT&T immediately hired her as the president of Business Communications Systems. She turned the whole scenario at AT&T, and made it the most profitable business, of that time.

Patricia Russo
Image Source: conferences.law.stanford.edu

In 1996, AT&T decided to spin-off its equipment division, and so was born the Lucent Technologies. In 1999, Russo was appointed as the Executive Vice President and Chairwoman of Lucent Technologies, which put around 80,000 employees under her.

After a rough patch at Lucent Technologies with the CEO Richard McGinn, Russo left the company in 2000, and took a small break, catching up with her hobby of painting. In the month of April 2001, Eastman Kodak offered her the position of President and Chief Operating Officer, which was also the position, which made Russo the first woman to take over at Eastman Kodak.

By the time, Lucent started facing enormous losses, and its shares were down by almost 50 per cent. The internet boom had a major impact on the company, and to be able to survive, they needed a leader who could take them out of such a storm. After McGinn’s removal as the CEO, Henry Schacht decided to bring in Russo back on the board. And on 7th January 2002, Russo was handed the responsibility when the company was in crisis.

When the price of the Lucent’s share was less than $1 per share, Russo promised that the company will come back strong soon. Her strategies led the company to a steady growth from the massive downfall, and the progress looked promising.

In 2006, Russo managed to break a deal between Lucent and Alcatel (a French telecom giant). This deal was a multi-billion dollar deal and promised to be the greatest mergers of all the time. In 2008, Russo stepped down as the CEO of Alcatel-Lucent due to the massive losses, the merger was facing and was not able to generate any profits. She was appointed on the Board of Directors of General Motors on 23rd July 2009.

Karl Benz : The German Inventor & the Founder of Mercedes Benz

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The founder of the world’s first automobile, powered by an internal combustion engine, and one of the most expensive cars in the world, Karl Benz was a German engineer and entrepreneur. The great inventor who introduced the world with his signature design of the first horse-less carriage has been inspiring the world for years.

Early Life

Karl Benz was born on 25 November 1844, as Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant, to Johann Georg Benz, a locomotive driver, and Josephine Vaillant, in Mühlburg, Germany. During the time of his birth, his parents were not married, but, tied the knots, only after a few months of his birth. After the wedding, Karl received his father’s surname Benz. But, his father died of pneumonia when Karl was just 2 years old.

Karl Friedrich Benz
Image Source: jarmunaplo.hu

Karl completed his school education from the local Grammar School, and joined the Poly-Technical University, for further education. The founder of the science-based mechanical engineering, Ferdinand Redtenbacher, was one of his professors, at the University. In 1860, he started studying mechanical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe. On 9 July 1864, he graduated from the university as a mechanical engineer, at the age of 19.

Career

As soon Karl graduated, he looked for a job and started working as a mechanical engineer. He switched between many companies for almost 7 years, but could not fit in. He worked as a draftsman in a scales factory, worked for a bridge building company, and even worked in an iron construction company.

In 1872, Karl joined his hands with August Ritter and started an Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop, named as Machines for Sheet-metal Working, in Mannheim. Due to his partner’s irresponsible behaviour, the first year of the company went really bad. The company was facing losses, so, Karl’s fiancée Bertha Ringer, acquired the shares of August Ritter, with the money of her dowry.

Karl started working on the various vehicle parts, including ignition, spark plugs, gear, carburettor, water radiator, and clutch. He loved running bicycles and always wanted to make an automotive bicycle. His another dream was to replace the horse carts with the automotive engine carriages. In December 1885, Karl assembled his first two-seater, fully powered gas car. He received the patent for the two-stroke engine in 1879.

Karl was clear about his intentions, and soon he patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburettor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

Due to the high expenditure on the experiments, Karl and Bertha became weaker, financially, and were forced to sell the shares of their company to photographer Emil Bühler and his brother. The company was renamed to Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim, in 1882, and Karl had only 5% of shares left in it. In 1883, Karl resigned from the company.

The Rise of Benz Motors

In 1883, After leaving Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim, Karl with Max Rose, the owner of a bicycle repair shop, founded Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik. The company had 25 employees and became popular with the name Benz & Cie.

With the company, Karl started working on a horse-less carriage, named as Benz Patent Motorwagen, and registered the patent for the same, on 29 January 1886, as DRP-37435. With the four-stroke engine, he developed the carriage, that was pulled by a bicycle and, was based on the similar technology, when he created an automobile.

Karl kept on improving the vehicles and launched the next version of the same, the Motorwagen Model 2, in 1889, followed by the Model 3 in the same year. In 1988, the Motorwagen was open for sale and received a good response from the public.

In 1988, Bertha Karl’s wife along with their two children, went on a drive on the Motorwagen, from their hometown to Bertha’s mother’s house, in Pforzheim. The distance between the two places was 106 km, and it is said to be the first longest trip done on the Motorwagen. The motive behind the drive was to make people aware of the feasibility of the newly invented carriage. Interestingly, Karl was not aware of the trip and Bertha informed him about her success through a telegram.

Karl kept on experimenting, and by 1899, his company had 430 employees, producing 572 units of their product, becoming the largest automobile company in the world.

Soon, with the time, Karl produced a few racing cars and some affordable personal vehicles for people. Karl also gets the credits for building the first truck with an internal combustion engine (1895) and the flat engine (1896).

In 1906, Karl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, founded the private company, C. Benz Sons, Karl remaining the director of Benz & Cie. The company was established 10 kilometres east of Mannheim, nearby Ladenburg, producing automobiles, gas and petrol engines. The company produced affordable vehicles, becoming most popular in London as taxis.

In 1923, Germany went through a rapid inflation, resulting in a lesser production of vehicles. Benz & Cie signed the “Agreement of Mutual Interest” with the infamous DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft), that was valid till 2000. Under the agreement, the two brands produced vehicles with mixed technologies, maintaining their own brands. It lifted both the companies shares, and the two managed to fight the economic crisis.

The two companies together launched the diesel trucks line, in 1927, and Karl served as the board member of the newly founded company until he died. Many of the Karl’s first and most important inventions are still preserved in Mannheim.

Personal Life

Karl Benz married his fiancee, Bertha Ringer, on 20 July 1872. The couple had five children. On 25 November 1914, on his seventieth birthday, the Karlsruhe University awarded Karl Benz an honorary doctorate.

On 4 April 1929, Karl Benz died from a bronchial inflammation, at the age of eighty-four. In 2011, a movie named Carl & Bertha was made on the life story of Karl and Bertha.

Konosuke Matsushita: The Founder & the Former CEO of Panasonic Corporation

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The story of the industrialist and the famous Japanese God of Management, Konosuke Matsushita, is nothing more than a roller coaster ride. The Japanese entrepreneur went through a lot of struggle and faced all type of conflicts, but, at last, emerged as the greatest leader, with its largest Japanese consumer electronics company Panasonic. The writer of four million sold copies of the Developing A Road To Peace And Happiness Through Prosperity and the inspiration of millions, Konosuke Matsushita was a true entrepreneur.

Early Life

Matsushita was born on November 27, 1894, in a Japanese village of Wasa. He belonged to an affluent family. His father was a landlord, primarily owned huge farmlands. Due to some bad investments, soon, the family went through a huge loss and had to give up all of their property. The family moved to a three bedroom apartment in the city and started working for their living. Matsushita received a standard schooling in the city.

Career

With the bad financial conditions, Matsushita could not continue his schooling and started working at a bicycle shop. The Shop went out of business, and his family sent him to Osaka, to do an apprenticeship at a hibachi store. Unfortunately, the store got shut within a year of his joining, and he had to look for another job. At the age of 15, he started working at Osaka Electric Light Company, an electrical utility company. During his job with Osaka Electric, he was promoted several times. After working for five long years with the company, he decided to take up another job, where he could also complete his education. But his father advised him to continue the same job and gain more experience in the field.

During his work at Osaka Electric Light Company, he had gained enough knowledge and experience, so that he invented a new and improved light socket in his spare time. He also introduced the idea to his boss, but his boss was not sure about the potential of the invention.

Founding Panasonic

At the age of 22, Matsushita got promoted as the electrical inspector of the company. In 1917, he decided to leave Osaka Electric and start his own firm, with the help of his wife and brother-in-law. Under the name of his company, he started producing the samples of his newly invented sockets, and approached various wholesalers, to sell his product. But, the new idea could not impress the wholesalers. This caused him a huge loss, and his employees also left him. With his wife and brother-in-law, he continued working on the samples and received his first huge order of thousand insulator plates for electric fans. Being a better and an inexpensive product it gained popularity and wholesalers started trading the product and eventually, Matsushita launched Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works on 7 March 1918, that later became Panasonic in future.

Konosuke Matsushita
Image Source: entrepreneurhalloffame.com

In the mid-1920s, Matsushita came with the idea of battery lamps for bicycles, as at the time, the bicycles used to have oil and wax lamps, that could be lighted only for 3 hours.

With the time, Matsushita became more focused on the marketing of the products, that proved to be a big contribution in raising the sales of his company. By 1929, he managed to establish his company among other Japan’s electrical manufacturing companies and opened a few sales branches in some other places across the country.

In the beginning, he produced the products with brand name National and developed many affordable electric appliances. Those appliances included electric iron, battery lamps, and three-tube model radio, etc. In 1940, during the second world war, Matsushita was forced to sign government military contracts. Those contracts helped him establish Matsushita Shipbuilding Company and the Matsushita Airplane Company. Although with these big achievements, due to the war, Matsushita lost 32 of his manufacturing factories and sales offices situated in the various parts of the country.

In 1951, during his tour to the USA, he realised that in order to help Japan recover from all the losses of the second world war, adoption of advanced Western technology was essential. In 1952, Matsushita signed a contract with Philips of the Netherlands. The company saw huge growth between the time of 1950 to 1973 and introduced new home appliances to the Japanese customers. In 1973, he retired from all of his duties for Panasonic.

Personal Life

Matsushita was married to Mumeno Iue, who was a big support for him during his struggle period. Matsushita was always focussed on economic growth of people and has published 44 books based on his social and commercial philosophies. He received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers in 1987. At the age of 94, on 27 April 1989, he died from pneumonia.

Mark Zuckerberg : The Founder & CEO of World’s Biggest Social Network

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The inventive programmer and the youngest billionaire of the world, Mark Zuckerberg needs no introduction. The CEO and the founder of Facebook, the largest social media network, was once the captain of the fencing team of his school. The young entrepreneur was always interested in programming and used to develop games based on the sketches, his artist friends made. Having a few lawsuits in his name and films made on his life story, Zuckerberg is among the few programmers who have established themselves as the smartest entrepreneurs of the world.

Early Life

Mark Zuckerberg aka Mark Elliot Zuckerberg was born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, and grew up in the suburbs of Dobbs Ferry, New York. His father Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist and mother Karen (née Kempner), a psychiatrist, belonged to a Jewish family. He was a bright student and always topped in the class. He completed his schooling from Ardsley High School and Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire. He excelled in mathematics, astronomy, physics and won many prizes in quiz competitions of his school. By the end of his school, he became proficient in French, Hebrew, Latin, and ancient Greek.

Mark Zuckerberg
Image Source: articlebio.com

Zuckerberg owned his first PC Quantex 486DX, on the Intel 486, when he was in middle school. He, eventually, grew an interest in programming languages and ended up learning Atari BASIC Programming form his father. He also received a private tuition to learn more about programming. Soon, he started developing small applications and developed a program, that connected the computers of his father’s office, through a messenger named ZuckNet. During his final year, at the high school, he joined a company name Intelligent Media Group, that worked to build a music player Synapse Media Player. The media player was developed using AI technology, that enabled it to create a playlist based on the music choice of the user. The music player even grabbed the attention of Microsoft and AOL.

Founding Facebook

After completing his school, due to his outstanding performance, he managed to get admission in one of the top universities of America, the Harvard University. By creating some useful software and games, he had already made his reputation as a programmer. He adopted Computer Science and Psychology as his major subjects. His first software at his college was the CourseMatch. The software helped the students to choose the right course and help others with their choices.

In the summer of 2003, Zuckerberg created a website for the students of the Harvard, named as Facemash. The project was developed during one his insomniac nights. The website was inspired by the college yearbook Facebook, that included the profiles of the students having their personal details and pictures in it. The concept behind Facemash was to compare two students based on their appearance. Most of the students enjoyed using it and the others complained about Zuckerberg, saying that he was using their personal data, without permission. The site got shut down within two days and Zuckerberg had to apologise to the students.

After the failure of Facemash, he started working on his new project, The Facebook. Zuckerberg launched the website after one month, i.e., on 4 February 2004. The website was basically designed for the students of Harvard, to help them connect with each other, easily. The website became an instant hit, and just after a year, it expanded to other colleges and schools, in the city. In the second year of his college, he left his studies in between, to work full-time on The Facebook. The founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, became its first angel investor, by investing $500,000. Soon, Facebook had 50 million registered users, and Zuckerberg started receiving offers to sell Facebook, from large companies, like Yahoo. Even receiving offers worth billions, he never accepted one. Although, he himself acquired many major projects like What’s App and Instagram.

The Lawsuit

On the initial launch of Facebook, three of Zuckerberg ‘s seniors at the University, Divya Narendra, and twin brothers Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. According to them, Facebook was based on their idea, that was to create a platform to connect the students of Harvard. They even claimed that they had hired Zuckerberg to work on their website. Later, they even sued him for the same. In the end, there was a settlement between them, for 1.2 million Facebook shares.

Personal Life

Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend and fellow student from Harvard, Priscilla Chan, on 19 May 2012. The couple has two daughters Maxima Chan Zuckerberg and August Chan Zuckerberg.

In July 2018, Zuckerberg became the third richest person in the world $81.6 billion net worth. Although, within a week, his net worth was tumbled nearly $20 billion, eliminating him from the position of the third richest person.

Anthony Levandowski : The Controversial Ex-Engineer of Google

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Anthony Levandowski, the former engineer at Google, does not need any introduction, thanks to all the controversies, he faced in the past one year. The irony is that the man who was the originator of the idea of driverless vehicles, is at the centre of a lawsuit between two major companies, for stealing the same. However, the lawsuit is against him, he must be credited for the introduction to such a technology.

Early Life

Anthony Levandowski was born on 15 March 1980. At the age of 18, he joined the University of California, Berkeley. He received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, in Industrial Engineering and Operation Research. He was always into machines and loved working on them. In 2004, he participated in the DARPA Grand Challenge with his autonomous motorcycle, named as the Ghostrider, that he built with the help of other fellow engineers. The motorcycle was first of its kind as it was a driver-less bike that rode in the challenge.

Career

Anthony took a job at Google and started working on the Google’s Street View project, in 2007. Already being in love with machines and automobiles, he kept on experimenting with the driver-less cars and started his own company 510 Systems in the same year, he joined Google. He started another company with the name Anthony’s Robots that produced self-driving cars. Under Anthony’s Robots, he built a self-driving Toyota Prius, Pribot, having one of the first spinning Lidar laser ranging units that rode on the public roads.

Anthony
Image Source: businessinsider.com

After recognising the potential of Anthony’s autonomous car production projects, Google acquired the both, transforming it into a single venture, Waymo. Anthony continued making self-driving cars under Waymo, for Google, until January 2016.

Founding Otto

In 2016, Anthony left the job at Google and co-founded Otto, self-driving technology company, along with his former colleague from Google, Lior Ron. In the same year, Uber acquired Otto by paying $680 million. Levandowski held the leadership of Uber’s driverless car operation and continued working with Otto. In October 2016, Otto manufactured an autonomous semi-truck, that completed the 132-mile route, achieving the longest continuous journey by a driverless vehicle.

The Controversy

In February 2017, his former company, Waymo, filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of stealing 9.7 GB of Waymon’s highly confidential files, trading the secrets and using the blueprints and design files to manufacture autonomous vehicles for Uber. Waymo claimed that the files were stolen, back in 2009, while Levandowski was still working with Google. Levandowski was refrained from working with Otto and later, in the same year, Uber fired him for not co-operating in the investigation.

Levandowski started his own self-driving car company named Kache.ai in July 2018.

Ernest Harrison : A British Entrepreneur & the Co-Founder of Vodafone

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From starting a career as a clerk to becoming the chairman of a multinational company is not a piece of cake. The recipient of the Mountbatten Medal and the most successful businessman of UK, Sir Ernest Harrison, was the first chairman of Vodafone, who started his journey as the head clerk at the parent company of Vodafone. His decision making and business skills led him and his company at the top of the telecom business.

Early Life

Sir Ernest Harrison was born in Hackney, north-east London, on 11 May 1926. His father was a docker, working under the Casual Labour Scheme, and his mother was a dressmaker, in an East End garment factory. He moved to Holloway with his family and attended Trinity Grammar School, Wood Green. During his school, he became a die-hard fan of the Arsenal Football Club and played in his school football team. He got his education interrupted when the world war 2 broke out, and he was evacuated. In 1944, joined the Fleet Air Arm, in Canada.

Career

During his service at the Fleet Air Arm, he received a training in accountancy. In 1951, after his release, he joined the newly formed Racal Telecom, as the chief accountant, and the 13th employee, at a monthly salary of £650. Soon, he became the chief buyer, following by the role of personnel director, and contract negotiator, of the company. He held many important positions while working in Racal, in his 50-year career with Racal. He was appointed the deputy managing director in 1961 and eventually, became the chairman of the company, in 1966.

Ernest Harrison
Image Source: amazonaws.com

With Harrison, Racal won many crucial deals, like negotiation of a British Army battlefield radio contract, a merger between Racal and British Communications Corporation, acquiring Decca, and buying the British Rail Telecommunications network, etc.

Creation of Vodafone

In July 1982, Harrison, as the chairman of Racal, along with Jan Stenbeck, from the Millicom, Inc., jointly bid for the UK’s second cellular radio licence, forming a company, named Racal-Millicom, Ltd. In the bid, the company won the second UK mobile phone network license. With the final ownership of Racal-Millicom, Ltd, Racal holding 80% and Millicom holding 15% shares, on 1 January 1985, Racal-Millicom launched Racal-Vodafone Ltd. in Newbury, Berkshire. In December 1986, by paying a total sum of GB£110 million, to the smaller shareholders, Racal Electronics transformed Vodafone into a fully owned brand of Racal Telecom.

By the end of 1996, Vodafone had acquired the major shares of many other telecom companies, like Talkland, Peoples Phone, Astec Communications, etc. In September 1991, Racal Telecom demerged into Vodafone. It expanded to other neighbouring countries and after 2005, it established its network in other continents too.

Vodafone became the first telecom company to provide roaming call. Currently, Vodafone serves 400 million customers all over the world.

Personal Life

Harrison’s first marriage was with Beryl Cole and had twin sons with her. The two got divorced in 1959. Harrison, in 1960, got married to Janie Knight, with whom he had three children. He loved watching Arsenal football matches and also, enjoyed horse races. He had a hobby of collecting medals. Harrison died on 16 February 2009, at the age of 82.